


Sky Rose

by silenceia



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Female Harry Potter, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-07-16 12:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7267915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silenceia/pseuds/silenceia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Potter died during the First Task of the Tournament. Rosabella Vongola, daughter of Enrico Vongola, remembers it quite clearly.</p><p>Good thing, too, because death apparently is not enough to stop a prophecy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rosabella Vongola

Rose Hariel 'Harry' Potter, daughter of James and Lily Potter, goddaughter of Sirius Black, and honorary member of the Weasley family, dies at the age of fourteen during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. The Hungarian Horntail, already aggravated by the cries of the Chinese Fireball who lost half her eggs, rips herself free of her chains and attacks the audience. Harry, on her Firebolt, distracts the dragon and draws it away from the screaming students. And dies for it, for while she can avoid fire and fangs, the wind the dragon's wings make is inescapable on her broom, and so she is smashed into the rockface and the dragon's tail crushes what is left of her body.

Rosabella Daniela Vongola, daughter of Enrico Vongola, grand-daughter of Timoteo Vongola, is conceived the moment Rose's heart ceases beating.

She isn't a quiet child. Her father calls numerous doctors for Rosa sniffles, cries, and screams in her sleep, and sometimes when she's awake as well. They cannot find anything wrong, aside from damage to her vocal chords due to the screaming.

It's Xanxus, her youngest uncle, who has the brilliant idea to bring his Mist, the Arcobaleno Viper (and just how his little brat of a brother had managed to get a Mist that strong, Enrico would never know), to take a look at her.

All blood leaves Viper's face as she takes the infant girl in. "I will be her godmother," she states coldly, in a tone that brooks no argument, not even from Xanxus.

Enrico doesn't protest. With his daughter under the protection of one Arcobaleno, she would be able to count on the others as well. This is a _good_ thing. His wife Felicia doesn't see it that way, had already promised a friend of hers the position of godmother, but there's nothing she can do.

Viper summons her Flames, clear, pure indigo, and makes them coil around the child, letting them seep into her skin.

Little Rosa is much better after that, and Enrico is glad.

 

―~~―~~―

 

Papa is Rosa's favourite parent by far. Mamma is coldcoldcold, her eyes like ice, her skin like snow, and her hair so pale it looks like frost covers it. Papa is warm. Papa smiles at her, carries her around, sings her songs, tells her stories. Mamma frowns at him a lot and stuffs Rosa in dresses and shows her off to her friends. Papa takes her into the gardens and plays with her.

Nonno is Papa's Papa. He's funny and nice, full of stories, and he comes at least once a week and drinks tea with her. He always treats her seriously, and he treats her stuffed animals - Rick the Lion, Hedda the Owl, Paddie the Dog, Remmie the Wolf - nice, too, and he never tells Mamma when Rosa kicks off her pretty dress shoes or spills tea on her silk dresses.

Rosa has uncles, too. There's Uncle Simo (his name is too long for her to say) who gives her tons of gifts and has a loud laugh - too loud, but he's still nice. And Uncle Rico, who isn't there as often, but makes up for it with really nice hugs, and who twirls her around like a princess when she runs up to him. He calls her Principessa, too, which always makes her giggle.

"I'm a witch, not a pwincess!" she tells him while she laughs.

"My little witch-princess, then!" he answers and ruffles her golden-blond hair, which makes Mamma frown at him because it takes aaaaages to arrange Rosa's hair since it's so messy. Rosa prefers to leave it open, hanging to her back in messy curls, but Mamma says it's not proper.

Her last uncle is Uncle Xanxus. (She took ages to practice saying his name right, he always made a weird face when she called him 'Uncle Zansus'.) And where her other uncles and Nonno are merely warm, Xanxus is a wildfire, fierce and strong and untameable. He scares Rosa a little, but she still loves when he comes, because he treats her like an adult, he tells her to stand straight and never ever let others make her small, and he gives her awesome boots and leather jackets that she can actually run around in. Mamma frowns a lot that at that, but Uncle Xanxus glares at her and she goes away.

There's also Uncle Iemitsu who she refuses to call 'Uncle' on account of the incident where he threw her on their first meeting, seriously, how in the world could he think that was a good idea? And it didn't appear that Papa punching him in the face had heightened his intelligence at all, but then again, you can't improve what isn't there, says Papa.

Rosa loves her family.

When she's three, she meets Viper for the first time. Papa told her that when she was little, she was really sick, and Viper fixed her and became her godmother, which means that she's like an aunt and will protect Rosa if Papa or Nonno or her uncles can't (which is ridiculous, Papa is always there.)

Anyway, Rosa has tea with her godmother, who is smaller than Rosa herself and wears a hood that obscures her face. It's, well, awkward. Rosa is a bit of a shy child, and normally that isn't a problem since her uncles and Nonno talk a lot and are fine with her listening and answering. Viper though says nothing at all until ten minutes into the meeting.

"Do you sleep well?" she asks then.

Rosa nods. "Yes, Madrina," she says, remembering her manners.

"You will address me as Viper unless instructed otherwise," Viper tells her.

"Yes, M - Viper," Rosa corrects herself, blushing. Viper nods regally.

"You do not have vivid dreams?" she asks. Rosa shakes her head, then hesitates.

"Sometimes," she says. "But I can never remember what they're about."

Viper nods shortly. A small hand reaches out and touches Rosa's forehead, and she has the distinct sensation of an icicle melting _inside_ her head. "I see. They will grow more vivid in the future. It will likely be unpleasant for you. Tell your father to contact me if you cannot handle it."

Rosa tilts her head. "But why do I have those dreams?" she asks, frowning in confusion.

"You will understand soon." Viper suddenly stands up, drains the rest of her tea, and leaves the room. Rosa stays in her seat, utterly confused.

"You alright, sweetheart?" Papa asks as he enters the room.

"Mmm," Rosa mumbles. "Viper is weird."

"That she is," Papa agrees with a smile as he bends down an picks her up. "What do you say, let's go to the kitchen and get some ice cream?"

Rosa smiles widely at him. "Yes, Papa!"

He grins. "But you know the rule..." he waggles his eyebrows at her, making her giggle.

"Don't tell Mamma!" they chorus together.

Papa kisses her forehead and all is right in the world.

 

―~~―~~―

 

"Rosa?" Enrico asks his four-year old daughter. Teary green eyes look at him from the bed, pudgy arms reach for him.

"Papa!" she sobs.

He doesn't hesitate for a second in scooping her up. "Another nightmare?" he asks.

"S-sirius!" she cries into his shoulder. "The Dementors tried - my fault my fault my fault he isn't free!"

He rocks her gently, silently resolving to get Viper here again. _Anything_ to stop this. "Shh," he murmurs. "It was just a dream."

"N-no," she sobs quietly. "A memory."

"Sweetie, you don't know any Sirius," he assures her. "It was just a dream."

She shakes her head again. "It's from _before_! My name's not Rosa, it's Rose, I d-didn't get it before but now I do and-"

"No," Enrico interrupts, pulling away a little and staring into terrified green eyes. Another Mafioso might have suspected impersonation or involvement of an illusionist, but Enrico has Hyper Intuition. This is _definitely_ his little girl, and there would be hell to pay for whoever did this to her. "You're Rosabella Vongola. You're my daughter. End of story, don't ever tell yourself otherwise. Understand?"

"Papa," she sobs.

"Yes," he says. "That's me. Now tell me about those dreams."

"M-memories," she mumbles.

"Tell me."

 

―~~―~~―

 

Rosa tells Papa everything she knows, all those awful dreams (memories). He doesn't interrupt once, only to comfort her when it gets bad. (The Dursleys. The magic. The hero worship. The troll. The dog. Quirrel. The Dursleys again, being locked up for the summer. The heir of Slytherin, everyone thinking it's _her_. The basilisk. Dementors, dementors, dementors. Pettigrew. The Quidditch World Cup. The Triwizard Tournament, facing the betrayal of a whole school, _Ron's_ betrayal. Humiliation upon humiliation, terror, nobody _seeing_ how bad it was. And finally, the dragon, her sacrifice. And she had _known_ that she was going to die, for people who didn't even care about her.)

Papa's Flames feel as hot as Uncle Xanxus' by the time she's done.

"It's all real, right? Magic and stuff?" she whispers. "Papa?"

He sighs deeply. "Yes. Magic is real. It's not very well-known in the Mafia, some bosses know, that's all. And the magicals don't really know about us, the Mafia."

"I don't think I have magic in this life," Rosa mumbles.

Papa pokes her forehead. "You have Flames instead," he says gently. "That's way better."

"Mmm," Rosa answers. "Yup!"

"Rosa, this will be our little secret," Papa tells her seriously. "You tell no one. Not even Nonno."

She nods. "Okay, Papa. Does Viper know?"

"If she does, she's not talking." Papa sighs. "I'll see if we can't find out more about the current state of the magical world, alright?"

"Papa?"

"What is it?"

Rosa sniffs a little. "Stay with me? I'm scared."

Papa smiles and ruffles her hair. "Of course, sweetie."

 

―~~―~~―

 

Two days later, all of Rosa's tutors have been replaced. Her education had previously handled by tutors hired by Mamma, with a lot of etiquette, dancing, and some music, plus stuff like writing and numbers. Now Rosa learns about the Mafia, Politics, Maths, Geography, History, and other serious grown-up things from Papa's Guardians, Papa himself teaches her languages - and Rosa relearns English in a week.

"You already know a lot of what you're learning now," he tells her. "You just need to remember it. And while you are young, you learn faster, we need to capitalise on that."

And at night, when Mamma and the servants are asleep, Papa wakes her up and takes her to his personal training room to teach her to fight and use her Flames.

Those things come to her completely naturally. And not just because of her memories, but also because she's got the Blood of Vongola and the Intuition. Still, Papa is pretty surprised when he tells her that to light her Flames, she has to think about what she wants so badly that she'd be willing to come back from the dead to get it, and she barely even has to think before her body is engulfed in warm, orange Flames.

Which Papa douses with a bucket of water he had wisely brought, just in case. Good thing, too, because Rosa collapses a second after in exhaustion.

"Okay okay, we need to do this some other way," Papa mutters. "Sorry, sweetie, I should've known that would happen."

"Ugh," Rosa sputters and flicks water into Papa's face. He grins.

"Oh, it's on, kid."

Rosa loses the ensuing tickle-war, but she puts up a valiant fight and manages to use the second water bucket to its full potential.

They dry off after that, and sit down on her bed. "Okay, Rosa, the problem is that your Flames are too strong and pure. You're going to hurt yourself like that."

"So what do we do?" she asks, hugging Hedda the stuffed Owl.

Papa frowns. "I don't like it... and you won't either, but we're going to have to seal your Flames for a while." He sees her horrified face and adds hastily, "Not completely! Just a little, limit the output, make sure you don't turn into the Human Torch! And I'm going to unseal you for _at least_ two hours a day!"

"Oh, okay," she mumbles. "That's fine, I guess."

"It's not, but there isn't really a way around it," Papa sighs.

"Did you find out anything about the magical world?" she asks, not sure if she really wants to know. She and the Wizarding World hadn't exactly _parted_ on the best of terms.

"Not much, no. What I've heard isn't very good," he answers. "I could find more if I asked my father for help, but then I'd have to tell him about," he leans down and kisses her forehead. "How special my little daughter is, and I think it's too early for that."

Rosa nods gratefully. Attention, she doesn't like that. Not even before the memories came back, and definitely not after. "We could ask Viper," she suggests softly.

"I did," Papa says. "She isn't talking."

Rosa hesitates. "Maybe if I ask?" she asks tentatively.

Papa sighs deeply. "If I can't find anything out, we can try that, alright?" He holds out a fist to her. She bumps it with her own.

"Love you, Papa," she mumbles, eyelids growing heavy.

"I love you too."

 

―~~―~~―

 

Enrico loves his family, he does. But he loves his daughter most of all, and he would do anything to protect her. And he knows that his father and brothers would chose Famiglia over family, and use his little girl in whatever way they see fit - not against her will, oh no, they would just manipulate her into thinking that she's doing everything of her own free will - and so if Enrico had his way, they wouldn't know until Rosa was able to stand on her own and make the decision herself.

So he hadn't exactly planned on anyone finding out. Then again, it could have been worse than Xanxus. Massimo for example would have exploited the potential blackmail without hesitation.

When Xanxus finds Enrico training Rosa in Flame use, he just stares for a bit, then jerks his head to the door with a scowl that says 'there better be a good fucking explanation for this or I'm gonna tear you trashy limb from trashy limb'. Enrico sends his daughter to bed and doesn't bother asking Xanxus into his office - better the training room get destroyed than the room where he keeps important business documents.

"Talk, trash," Xanxus growls out, red eyes blazing. Enrico inwardly rolls his eyes. His youngest brother is a horrible brat at the best of times and this certainly isn't one of those. Xanxus had already been in a horrible mood before he saw Rosa getting trained in Flame use.

(Enrico would bet that there'd been another situation with his father. Timoteo is a good father, but he isn't the best at handling Xanxus, that's Federico. Anyway, Enrico is pretty sure that Xanxus came to either vent or spend some time with Rosa to calm down - it wouldn't be the first time.)

"Rosa isn't exactly an ordinary child," Enrico informs Xanxus. "I deemed it best to start teaching her to defend herself."

"The fuck's that supposed to mean?!" Xanxus growls out. Enrico gives him a reproachful look that says ' _Language, Xanxus, we both know my impressionable five-year old daughter is standing outside the door eavesdropping.'_ Xanxus rolls his eyes.

"It means that she remembers her previous life," Enrico says nonchalantly as if stating the weather. Xanxus' eyes widen. "Don't look at me like that, it's not like that's unheard of."

"The hell's that got to do with teaching her about Flames, trash?! She's _five_!"

"One, her Flames are extremely strong, she has to learn to control them," Enrico states. "And two, I'm afraid that her previous life might come back to haunt her."

Xanxus narrows his eyes. "Oh?" he asks dangerously, fingering his guns.

And that's the reason Enrico is glad that it was Xanxus who found out. The brat is stupidly independent and hell-bent on doing everything himself, and he's hellishly protective of Rosa. Xanxus would be the last one to tattle.

Now to make sure that he sees Enrico's point...

"She died young. And violently."

Yeah, that did it. Xanxus' Flames roil in anger and rage, from his guns drips fire that destroys the floor mats and the floor below that is _supposed_ to be Flame resistant.

Time for damage control.

"Rosa, sweetie, come inside for a bit!" he calls. A pause, then the door clicks and Rosa shuffles inside sheepishly.

Xanxus sends Enrico a murderous look that he returns with a smug one. There would be no destruction of his house with Rosa around.

"Uncle Xanxus?" she asks hesitantly, seeing his angry face.

"Get over here, brat," Xanxus growls out. Rosa looks a bit confused and scared, but obeys anyway.

"Uhhm..." she mumbles, twisting her fingers, and then she squeaks as Xanxus scoops her up and settles her on his hip. Enrico stifles a grin as she reflexively wraps her arms around Xanxus' neck.

Nothing like a hug from Rosa to quell a temper tantrum.

"So why did you come here, Xanxus?" Enrico asks pleasantly.

Xanxus glares at him. "You've been slacking off," he growls out.

Rosa looks up. "Papa!" she scolds. "That's not good!"

Great, and now Enrico's bratty brother smirks. "Yeah, what your brat says," he drawls out. "And guess who's picking up your slack."

Oh that little-

"Papa, you can't make Uncle Xanxus work more!" Rosa glares at him. His daughter is so adorable. His brother, not so much.

"And now I know why," Xanxus rumbles. "I'm taking over your brat's Flame training."

Enrico frowns. "That's not-"

"You said her Flames are too strong. Who better to train her than me?" Xanxus points out, and damn, he has a point.

"You'd do that for me?" Rosa asks her uncle with wide eyes. Xanxus shoots her a side-glare.

"Shut it, brat. You better work hard," he responds. Rosa beams at him and kisses his cheek which makes Xanxus freeze. Enrico rejoices that there are cameras in the training room, he's so getting a picture made from that. The blackmail potential is _endless_.

"Thanks Uncle Xanxus!" Rosa cheers obliviously.

"You can't come over every night," Enrico points out.

"I'll be there often enough," Xanxus retorts and sneers at him. "You bet your ass that she'll learn more in an hour from me than in a week from you."

Rosa swats his arm. "Language!" she scolds.

"Get used to it, brat," Xanxus growls back.

"Don't get used to it, sweetie." Enrico glares at Xanxus. " _Someone_ is going to watch his language around you or I'm telling his Sun Guardian."

Xanxus pales considerably. His guardians - the ones that he has, anyway - do worship him. But if they get overexcited, well... Lussuria in particular is terrifying.

Rosa giggles. "Papa, I've heard worse before," she says. "Uncle Xanxus can talk however he likes."

Xanxus and Enrico exchange a _look_. Enrico's says that yes, it was bad for his sweet little daughter, it was _really_ bad. Xanxus' promises retribution for whoever hurt her.

(He'd be a bit late in that. Enrico had already had Vernon and Petunia Dursley removed. Dudley Dursley had been spared since he'd been a child back then, but he had lost his job at Grunnings, and documents concerning his scholastic career had been revealed to be forged and ensured that his search for a new job would be that much more difficult. The wizards who had hurt Rose Potter were harder to find, but Enrico is working on it. Perhaps with Xanxus involved, Viper would be a bit more cooperative.)

Rosa suddenly yawns and rubs at her eyes. Enrico's heart melts a little bit more at the adorable sight of his daughter. She had been a bit of an accident, and having to marry Felicia had not made him happy at all, but he could never regret Rosa. He could not _imagine_ a life without his sweet little girl.

"You tired, brat?" Xanxus asks gruffly.

"Mmm," she mumbles and buries her face in his neck. Moments later she's asleep. Xanxus smirks a little and stalks out of the room to put her in bed.

Yeah. It could have been much worse than Xanxus.


	2. Family Troubles

Xanxus becomes Rosa's favourite uncle. Before, it was Uncle Rico, but now that Xanxus trains her... he's so strong and smart and cool, and he takes shit from no one, and the best thing is, he wants her to be just like that. He doesn't want her to just follow orders and do what he tells her to, he wants her to use her own head, to make decisions and stand by them.

His training is harsh, but it's effective. Papa has a tendency to coddle her sometimes, Xanxus is not like that at all.

"You'll be fucking Quality, brat, and if I have to burn it into you, I fucking will!"

Uncle Xanxus' language has not improved at all. Rosa doesn't really mind, Uncle Xanxus talks however he likes, and anybody who doesn't like it can suck it. It's just who he is. And it's what he teaches her to become, too.

Within a month, Rosa's pretty dresses and slippers start catching dust in her closets because she wears jeans, trainers, and t-shirts. The elaborate hair-dos are replaced with simple ponytails or braids when she trains, and open hair otherwise.

"Fucking _own_ your life," Xanxus orders her. "You're Vongola, at the top of the world. You walk into a room, it better be fucking _yours_."

Her other uncles and Nonno find it 'hilarious' and 'cute' (and Mamma 'horrifying') how she hangs around Xanxus during family gatherings and tries to emulate him. Papa though gives her approving nods when nobody else is looking. And Iemitsu  tries to get her to like him more than Xanxus, a task at which he fails quite disastrously. There is no competition. Especially when the man mysteriously always ends up with cake, pudding, or mud in his face when in the vicinity of Xanxus, Papa, or her.

Xanxus can also be an annoying perfectionist and tends to gets up in all of her business.

"The fuck's this supposed to be, huh, brat?!" he demands.

 _This_ is her Maths assignment. Advanced Maths, too.

"My finished homework," she answers flatly while reading her very interesting book. Lord of the Rings, she'd always wanted to read it as Harry. Hermione had loved the book.

"The hell?! Do it again. Your writing's fucking chickenscratch and you use stupid formulas."

"It gets the job done, doesn't it?" she asks.

"Brat-"

Rosa looks up to glare at him and says, "Fuck off, Xanxus," and returns to reading her book.

Xanxus gapes at her, then pats her on the head and gives her a cookie. She still has hell to pay in training, but the sense of accomplishment is worth it.

Xanxus also gives her assignments. Not in academics and Flame use (she isn't supposed to practice without Papa or him there), but in more subtle stuff. _Get Massimo to give you a utility belt as a gift instead of stupid dresses and shit for your hair. Acquire your bitchy mother's favourite brooch. Tie that idiot Iemitsu's shoelaces together. Find out the head of security's familial status, the names of his immediate family members, and their place of residence. Find out the butler's state of health without talking to him._ The assignments all teach her something - subterfudge, stealth, observance, manipulation ( _"You're a fucking cute little shit, use it. You got a weapon, you don't leave it fucking lying around to catch dust!")_ and she and Xanxus have a good laugh seeing Iemitsu trip over his feet, his face landing in a bowl of punch that just so happens to have been placed there moments before by Papa.

Mamma hates all that she learns, it's not proper, ladylike, or anything good, really; and so pushes lessons of her own choosing on Rosa. Etiquette, dancing, music. She cannot stand the first two, but music is alright. She learns to play the violin - she'd always wanted to play an instrument _before_ \- and it proves to be a relaxing hobby when Mamma isn't harping on her to practice.

Life is good.

Until it's not.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

"Your father is dead." Felicia Vongola's face does not change as she announces this to her daughter. "Shot to death."

Rosa cannot process this. Her barely six-year old mind won't accept what she's hearing.

"The funeral is in two days," Felicia continues, her eyes cold. "You will wear the dress provided to you, Rosabella. Your etiquette tutor will go over the necessary rules of behaviour."

Cold. Empty. Rosa's body is glass and it's shattering.

"Enrico's Guardians are no longer alive as well. Your old tutors will be returning."

No. Nonononono.

Papa.

Felicia's lips curl. "Things are going to change in this household. Starting with your education. You have been given far too much freedom. It is time you started learning appobriate lessons."

Numb. Rosa is too numb to say anything, to feel anything.

That's good, though. It'd hurt otherwise.

_Papa come back please this is a stupid joke you're so strong you can't be dead please please please._

"We will start with your wardrobe."

The days pass in a daze. Nonno comes by and offers condolences, Felicia sobs into his chest and plays the part of the grieving widow she is not. He offers Rosa a hug and his sympathies, too, but he appears too distracted with whatever that it wouldn't have counted for much even if she had cared.

Her uncles Massimo and Frederico come, too, but the visits barely register.

The dress she has to wear for the funeral is awful. The shoes don't fit right.

In a fit of rebellion - the first twinge of motivation for anything - she goes and finds one of Papa's old shirts, retrieves the boots and leather jacket Xanxus gave her once from under her bed, and stuffs all of it into a bag. She changes into them right as the service is about to start, and Felicia can only stare frigidly at her when people whisper about her appearance.

 _You show'em, sweetheart,_ she imagines Papa would have said, and ruffled her hair and grinned at her.

The funeral is dreary. Papa would have hated it. If the coffin had been open, she'd probably have seen a frown on his corpse. As it is, the coffin is kept closed. There wouldn't have been much of his face left, anyway.

Felicia is not pleased with Rosa afterwards. Her room is searched, everything deemed inapprobriate taken from it. Rosa doesn't have the energy to put up a fight about it. Not then, not when her entire diet is changed to suit Felicia's wishes to ensure that all the atrocious muscles Rosa had trained hard to get vanished. Not when the stuffed animals disappear. Not when the entire mansion is redecorated and it ceases to be her home even more than it had since Papa's death. But at least now she doesn't feel like Papa could walk in anytime, whistling some song, a grin on his lips, a plan for the day.

The worst is the _visits_. Felicia's friends show up everyday and bring their sons. Their very much Flame Active sons. "It is time that you form Guardian Bonds," Felicia informs Rosa. She doesn't answer. She hasn't talked since Papa's death.

Having Flames pushed at her, trying to force her into accepting guardians, and having to resist, _hurts_. And not the normal kind of pain. This hurts right in her _soul._

The days pass and Rosa gets colder and colder.

Uncle Massimo comes and brings gifts as if they could fill the void in her chest. They don't.

Uncle Federico comes and brings hugs and promises of visits. It doesn't help either.

Then Xanxus shows up four weeks after the funeral, looking like hell, and takes one look at her. "Fuck that noise, shitty old man," he growls out, grabs her, sits her down in his car, and takes her away from that cage.

Xanxus feels warm.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"Where were you?" she asks. They're the first words she's spoken in three days.

Xanxus gives her a flat look. "Hunting down every last one of the motherfuckers who killed your father and making them _burn_."

"Good," she answers and goes back to her silence.

Xanxus studies his niece for the nth time since he kidnapped her from her bitch of a mother. Blond hair in a mess, too thin and pale, green eyes dull and lifeless. She _still_ looks better than when he found her walking around like a zombie at Enrico's mansion, dressed up like a fucking puppet with her hair twisted into something painful looking. _Now_ she's at least doing what she wants, which at the moment is lying around on Xanxus' bed for hours without moving.

He's okay with that as long as she eats her food. Fucking starved, the kid.

That bitch of a mother is going to die, no question about it. That would shut up his shitty old man, too. Rosa is _his_ , Xanxus' little niece. Plus Viper's her godmother. Without Felicia around, custody would go to her. And there'd be nowhere safer for the kid than with Xanxus.

The shitty old man would probably want to take her, but fuck that. The old man had no time to take care of her anyway - if he had, he shoulda taken her from that fucking bitch right from the start.

Rosa is Xanxus' now. Had been from the start, really. The little shit had been placed into his arms after the birth, after the old man and his brothers had had their fill, but that just meant that Xanxus got her for longer.

 _Stupidly soft and helpless_ , he'd thought, terrified of dropping her. He hadn't, though.

 _Kinda dumb and useless_ , he'd decided when forced to visit Enrico's pretentious as hell house and his icy bitch of a wife. _Warm, though._

 _Has a bit of guts,_ he noticed when he saw her scrounge up all her courage to offer him cake. _And some observation skills_ , when she noticed him not liking her butchering of his name and worked on pronouncing it right. _Might make something of herself._

She only got interesting when he saw her getting trained in Flame use of all things in the middle of the night for self-defense. And he'd been fucking pissed that someone might _dare_ touch his little niece. She was blood. Family. Family is sacred. And nobody got to touch the Vongola and live to tell about it.

Her Flames are stupidly strong, too. And Enrico is - was - not that blessed in the Flame department. Didn't have much of them, was really fucking good at control, though. Still, it was fucking _obvious_ that Xanxus would be better to teach her. And teach her he did. God a few laughs out of it, too. Kid's a riot when she wants to raise hell. Sucked his lessons up like a sponge and grew a fucking spine (fucking hilarious, that pint-sized brat telling _him_ to fuck off).

Lost it recently though.

Xanxus has no fucking clue what to do with the kid, teaching her some crap is one thing, taking care of her 24/7 an entirely different one.

He'd fucking figure it out, though.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Xanxus had warned his Guardians off. Most of them anyway, the ones that he figured needed a warning. Lussuria, Squalo, Ottabio. Whose faces would have been fucking hilarious when first seeing him carry Rosa into the Varia Mansion if it hadn't been for the fact that the kid had been a fucking zombie.

"Give the brat some fucking space," he ordered.

He hadn't thought he'd have to worry about _Levi_ of all people. It turns out fine though. He walks in on Levi yelling at Rosa to 'Stop making the boss worry and start making herself useful, she's with the fucking Varia now!' which makes him shoot the bastard because Rosa is Off. Fucking. Limits. But he sees the first spark of light back in her eyes, so he doesn't kill his Lightning.

Rosa is introduced to the rest of Xanxus' Guardians the next day. To her credit, she doesn't hide behind him though she looks like she very much wants to.

"This brat," he announces to them. "Is my fucking niece and she's going to be fucking Quality. You fuck with her, you fuck with me, got that trash?!"

Rosa gives a small wave. "Hi, I'm Rosa," she greets shyly.

Viper nods shortly and flies off. Ottabio greets her in that annoyingly friendly way of his and Rosa apparently senses something about the fucker because she shifts closer to Xanxus and doesn't respond besides a short nod. Levi (in bandages due to getting his ass kicked) sniffs haughtily. Squalo looks at her like he's sizing her up. And Lussuria honest to God _squeals_ , darts forward, and hugs her.

The brat squeaks and uses all her previous training to escape on a nearby huge-ass sculpture. Which gets her a raised eyebrow from Squalo, and that's a fucking good thing because it means he's _interested_ and would probably train her.

Lussuria clutches his heart. "My maternal instincts are awakening!" he gasps. "Rosaaaa~! Come down here~!"

The brat's expression says quite clearly that she isn't going to come down willingly in this lifetime unless Lussuria drops dead right there where she could see it happen.

"VOI! YOU FUCKING IDIOT YOU'RE SCARING HER!" Squalo screams at Lussuria.

"Boss, allow me to retrieve your honorable niece," Levi simpers.

"My dear, you do not need to be scared," Ottabio says to Rosa.

"I'm not scared, you people are just bloody insane," she deadpans. Xanxus stifles a proud grin.

"Look, she's like a little kitten!" Lussuria squeals. "Here, kitty, kitty!"

"Case in point," Rosa says flatly and points at him.

"Get your ass down here, brat," Xanxus orders. Rosa shoots him an incredulous look. "Lussuria is gonna be in charge of your physical health."

Rosa's _are you fucking serious_ is drowned out by Lussuria's goddamn squealing.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa flat-out refuses to be dragged shopping with Lussuria. The man (?) takes it in stride.

"But we're still playing dress-up later!" he promises (threatens).

At least he'd stopped hugging her. Though she figures she'd get used to him. For the moment, she's actually kind of glad for the noise he makes, it keeps her from thinking about how _empty_ she feels.

"Hm, so we have to build up your muscles, fatten you up some, ohhh, work on your stamina, teach you some self-defense-" Lussuria prattles on. "We're going to have so much fun!"

"Mmm," Rosa mumbles.

"Chin up, dearie!" Lussuria orders. "Here we are, our training room! We'll just see where you're at now, and start slow." He tsks. "They haven't been feeding you right, we wouldn't want to damage you, no?"

What Lussuria refers to as _light exercise_ , Rosa would call _almost deadly torture_. Her muscles are all trembly and she can hardly walk afterwards. She'd managed not to throw up, but that was the only good thing.

Lussuria says it could be worse. Rosa can't see how, but she isn't going to jinx it by saying it out loud.

Afterwards, she gets dragged to a room next to Xanxus' that she's told is now hers, and is asleep before her head hits the pillow.

It marks the theme for the following days. Lussuria takes his job seriously. Rosa barely has a moment to think in between training sessions - unless she gets academic lessons with whoever is available. It's exhausting and awful, but there's something satisfying about falling into bed at night with her brain and muscles feeling like mush. She's getting stronger, and maybe Papa is proud of her, wherever he is.

"You know," she tells Xanxus absently one afternoon - she does get days off sometimes - while lounging on his couch. "I didn't have parents _before_. I mean, I did, obviously, but they were dead. So Papa is the only parent I've ever really known."

"You gonna tell me about your shitty _before_ sometime?" Xanxus asks.

"Papa didn't tell you?"

"Said it wasn't his fucking place."

"Pretty sure he didn't use that exact choice of words." Rosa gives him a tired smirk. "Someday, uncle. I'll tell you."

"You better, brat."

"I died fighting, though." She manages a grin. "Despite being a bloody weakling."

"Shoulda fucking won," he growls.

"I think I could, now." She pokes his arm. "I'm shaping up to be a badass now."

A snort. "You're still fucking trash, brat."

She rolls her eyes. She knows the correct answer to that one. "Fuck off, Xanxus."

It makes him laugh his rare, rumbling laugh.

Her life isn't all that happy anymore with Papa gone, but it isn't entirely miserable either. She could be herself - or at least try to be because it's kinda hard to figure out who she is - she can wear whatever clothes she wants, she gets enough to eat, and nobody scolds her if she curses. And she has friends, sort-of.

It's tons better than the Dursleys, at least.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"Why are you avoiding me?" Rosa asks her godmother.

The floating baby's face stays impassive. "I merely do not endeavor to seek you out outside of your lessons. That is all."

"Aren't you supposed to look out for me?" Rosa frowns. Sirius Black had once risked capture by dementors for her. Somehow, she can't see Viper doing that.

"You think I am not?" questions Viper.

"I wouldn't know. We never talk." Rosa shrugs. "I know my father talked to you occasionally and you refused to answer his questions. Now he's gone and you aren't doing a thing besides giving me lessons, and that's because Xanxus ordered you to."

"Xanxus is doing well enough in watching out for you." Viper turns. "I do not see a reason to coddle you."

"I want to know about the magical world," Rosa speaks up, determination in her voice. "I know you know who I was before. I want to know how, and I want to know why you helped me when I was a kid. And I want to know what's going on in that world now."

Viper pauses. "I left that world a long time ago and I have no desire to speak of it. If you wish to know about its happenings, go and find out yourself. As for why I helped you, I had a debt to repay to the Potter family, and it transferred to you, which is how I knew. That is all you will find out from me. My debt is repaid now."

"How did you know which Potter I was?" Rosa demands.

"That is for me to know. Rest assured, nobody else has the means I have." Viper starts floating off. "I shall fulfill my duties as your godmother, but do not expect me to take a definitive interest in your life. Now, I suggest you head downstairs. Your grandfather has arrived."

"Oh great," she mutters. Her opinion of Nonno had taken a bit of a nosedive. According to Squalo, the man wanted her to go back to her mother and was putting  pressure on Xanxus, but couldn't be bothered to actually visit and ask for her opinion. Until now, apparently.

Rosa heads down quickly, checking over her appearance on the way. Hair tied back, leather jacket sat neatly, boots shiny, pants intact. She straightens her posture, pastes a smile on her face, and enters the meeting hall with a skip in her steps. "Nonno!" she cheers.

Her grandfather turns to her with a smile, not seeing the look she exchanges with Xanxus. "Rosa, dear!"

She runs up to him and hugs him. No matter her opinion, he's still her grandfather and she loves him.

"Ahh, it's been too long," he murmurs quietly.

"Mmm," she mumbles and pulls back. Her smile apparently startles him a bit, if the minuscule widening of his eyes is anything to go by. "It's good to see you!"

"You as well, my dear granddaughter. How have you been?"

Rosa smiles. "Oh, great! Uncle Xanxus has been awesome and everyone here is so nice to me and I don't have to do stupid diets and nobody searches my room when I'm not there and I can wear what I like. And I don't have to meet with Mamma's friends' sons! Oh, and Viper's teaching me 'bout finances and computers and stuff, that's cool, too!"

"Oh, well, that's good to hear," Nonno says a bit hesitantly. "But dear, your mother misses you very much."

Rosa lets her smile fade and withdraws from him in Xanxus direction. "Oh," she says quietly. "That's... uhm. She could come visit, I guess."

"Rosa, dear, she's your mother. Don't you miss her?"

She just shrugs. She's tempted to look up, but she knows that body-language is important and these people won't miss a single twitch from her. "Not really," she answers.

Nonno sighs. "I know that what happened with your father put a strain on your family-"

"You are _not_ taking her back to that fucking bitch," Xanxus growls dangerously, glaring at his father.

"Xanxus, you can't just kidnap and keep her. Rosa needs to be with her family! And the Varia really isn't the right kind of environment for a little girl," Nonno argues. Xanxus' fists clench.

"Did you even look at the fucking medical reports I sent you, you shitty old man?!" he demands.

"Now, Xanxus, that isn't the subject of discussion here," Nonno says sternly. "Rosa is-"

"Sitting right here," Rosa finishes for him, perching on the armrest of Xanxus' thronelike chair. "I'd rather not go back. I've only just recovered from being borderline starved, constantly locked up, and having my every move controlled, and resisting being force-Guardian-Bonded to those sons of Mother's friends I mentioned earlier. All of which happened to be from her old Famiglia, certainly not Vongola. So yes, Papa's death did put a strain on the family. Feel free to ignore me, though. Like you did before." She gets up and gives Xanxus a kiss on the cheek like it's completely natural. "I'll see you in training later, Uncle."

And with that, she walks out of the hall, head held high.

Nobody mentions her going back again.

Xanxus is stupidly nice to her for the next few days though.

 


	3. Feathers

Felicia Vongola commits suicide a few months after Xanxus had taken Rosa in. Rosa takes the news in stride. That woman hadn't been her mother, the only one she saw as a mother would be Lily Potter. Felicia's death doesn't concern her overly much aside from a sense of relief that she wouldn't have to see her again.

(Rosa has her suspicions that Xanxus had orchestrated the death, but she keeps quiet about it. When the death is investigated and Rosa questioned, she merely claims that her father's death had hit her mother hard and that perhaps they had all overlooked how depressing it had been for the poor woman. It would certainly explain some of her actions.)

Uncle Massimo dies when Rosa is eight. Drowned by a rival Famiglia. None of his Guardian's survive.

The funeral is, like her father's, one with a closed coffin. Rosa sticks to Xanxus the entire time. The loss isn't as devastating to her as her father's and Massimo had actually been her least favourite uncle, completely awkward and always showering her in gifts for lack of anything to say. Nonetheless, he had been family and he had always meant well.

The similarities between her father's and her uncle's death strike her as odd, though. Both died in an altercation with rival Families - but not big and powerful ones. None of their Guardians survived. And they died from causes that normally wouldn't have killed them. Papa should have been able to dodge bullets - Rosa herself could do that, so there was no way that Papa couldn't. Massimo could have used Flames to blast himself out of the water.

Something doesn't add up. The whole thing had been investigated by CEDEF already, but she wouldn't trust Iemitsu to tie his own shoes.

She doesn't tell Xanxus when she starts investigating. The deaths of his brothers had hit him hard even if he didn't show it, and she wouldn't dredge up his ire when as far as he was concerned, the whole thing was over with the death of their killers.

Ottabio usually takes care of paperwork as the Varia's vice leader since Xanxus could be a lazy fucking bastard. But Ottabio is also a busy man, and the Cloud Squad is a troublesome bunch at best. So it's pretty easy for Rosa to orchestrate for one of the Clouds to become _irritated_ which sets all the others off too, and Ottabio would have to spend at least one day on getting them back under control.

All Varia members avoid paperwork like the plague which means the offices are _always_ empty. So no one sees Rosa walk into the Cloud Officers's office, swipe photos and autopsy reports from the filing system, and hack into the computer to get security feeds and pictures of the murder scenes and whatever else she can find.

She takes all of it into the unused office of the Storm Guardian (Xanxus hadn't found a suitable Storm Guardian yet) and spreads it out, forces herself to read through everything, look at the pictures of her father's and uncle's corpses. And yeah, she can definitely see why their coffins were left closed at the funerals.

Everything adds up fine. No connection between the deaths, _nothing_. She almost dismisses her suspicions as paranoia, a way to cope with losing yet another member of her precious family.

But. _But_. It was her Papa's death. And if there was any chance, any chance _at all_ that it had been murder, that there was more to it... then she couldn't let this go. Still, there is no evidence of a connection or any sign that it isn't what it looks like: an unfortunate case of an underestimated enemy getting lucky.

But it sure is suspicious that both Papa and Massimo had been in enemy territory with only their Guardians as protection. They had had reasons, sure, Papa had been going to negotiate about something or other, and Massimo had been driving to visit with the Becchios where a potential Sun Guardian had caught his eye and been attacked on the way back. The Becchios found a plant among their cooking staff later who had apparently been reporting to the enemy.

Said plant had swallowed a poison capsule before he could be made to talk. In fact, there were no survivors on the enemy's side in _both_ cases. And that was actually Xanxus' fault. He'd been going after those who _dared_ attack his brothers, his blood, his _family_ , with a devastating rage that left nothing standing, and certainly no evidence of anything.

Which is where Rosa's investigation hits a dead end. So she decides to leave it be. She's overthinking it. Xanxus had taken care of everything. What could she possibly see that Xanxus had not?

She focuses on her training instead. She has weapons now, two pens that doubled as kubotans - basically, two sticks about fourteen centimetres long with a pointy end, with grooves to improve her grip on it, made from Flame conducive metal. It reinforced her hand-to-hand combat skills, allowed her to attack pressure points, and stab people if she chose to.

Considering she could also use her Flames to amplify her physical strength and speed, it made her pretty dangerous.

Still. Even with all the training, that niggling suspicion lingers in the back of her mind. Until it's not just a suspicion anymore.

(Harry Potter had never been able to leave a mystery alone, even when her friends discouraged her. Rosa Vongola is no different, and there's certainly no one to try and stop her now.)

It's at one of the now rather depressing family gatherings that she overhears Iemitsu say something to Uncle Federico and clap him on the shoulder that sends her mind into overdrive. The moment she gets back to the Varia Mansion, she's in that normally unused office again where she keeps all of her research. And then she isn't just looking at reports and videos anymore but hacking into Iemitsu's email account - she had his email address, it wasn't that difficult from there - and then she's hacking into _Xanxus'_ email account and she was _so_ going to pay for that later, but it doesn't really matter because she has a lead now and wishes she didn't.

She tracks down more leads and monitors a few transactions, but when the final confirmation comes -

_(Back when Rosa had been Harry she'd always frowned on killing. It was unforgivable, a crime, something that one just did not do._

_Rosa isn't Harry now, not really. She has Harry's memories, sure, and a lot of who Harry was had carried over to her, but she still finds that she has no problems being around assassins. She just doesn't really want to be one herself. The idea of killing someone with her own two hands just repulses her.)_

\- when her suspicion is confirmed, Rosa just. Blows. Up.

Her Flames are always pure Sky. Gentle and warm, the complete opposite of Xanxus' angry and raging ones.

They are not gentle now.

There's a crater of destruction around her by the time Xanxus stops her.

"What the fucking hell, brat!" he snarls at her before his eyes fall on the hated rotten fruits of her investigation that had miraculously survived her Flames, probably because she subconsciously knew they had to be kept intact.

"Evacuate the building," Rosa orders Squalo tonelessly. " _Now_."

She has no idea what he sees in her face at that moment, but he obeys immediately.

Good thing, because there isn't much of the Storm wing left when Xanxus is done, and great parts of the floors below and above are destroyed, too. Rosa just barely manages to protect herself, her anger and grief fueling her Flames, but it's practically nothing in the face of Xanxus' Flames of Wrath.

His hand catches her throat and slams her to the ground, cutting off her air.

She punches him in the face with a Flame powered fist. He falls back against the remnants of wreckage. His eyes are wide with an effort to control himself. She is no better.

"You!" he growls. " _You shouldn't have-_ "

" _He was my father and Massimo was my uncle I didn't know that it was_ him _who-_ "

" _My brothers!"_

"Yeah," she snarls back. " _He_ is going to die. And when you go after him, I'm going with you. I don't give a flying fuck that- that- that he's family, too, he isn't anymore and I'm going to burn him to ash."

"Fuck, you- how did you even- why did you have to go and- DAMN IT!" he roars and fires a shot into the wreckage. Then he snarls, a grief-filled noise of rage, and uses his guns to catapult himself into the sky and away.

Rosa runs off too.

The sounds of destruction continue on for hours.

 

―~~―~~―

 

"Hi, Uncle Federico," Rosa greets. "Y'know, I don't think I've ever been at your place before."

"Little Principessa!" Federico gives her a warm if surprised smile. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you."

She walks forward with a laugh and gives him a hug. "Lussuria is going shopping in the area and offered to drop me off."

"Well, that was nice of, uh, him." Federico laughs sheepishly. "Sorry, I never know what gender to address him with, and he's not exactly someone I'd want as my enemy, you know?"

"Oh yes, I know." Rosa shudders. "He trained me when Xanxus took me in. Hugs have never been so terrifying."

"How's Varia life treating you?" her uncle asks. "I keep wanting to visit you, but something _always_ comes up. It's a curse, really."

She shrugs and looks around Federico's garden. "How 'bout we go inside? I could use a drink."

"My, aren't you-"

"Non-alcoholic," Rosa cuts in flatly. "The last thing I need is Levi getting on my case again."

" _Levi_?" Federico asks with a raised eyebrow as he leads her in. "He bothering you? He seems like, well-"

"A jackass trying to crawl into Xanxus ass to live there for the rest of his life? Yeah, he is." Rosa rolls her eyes. "And I'm Xanxus' niece, so I have to be perfect so that he doesn't worry about me, or something like that. I don't really get it. Levi's weird."

"That's one way to put it... Xanxus has the most _eccentric_ Guardians, doesn't he?" Federico shakes his head fondly.

"Speaking of Guardians, where are yours?" Rosa looks around.

"Ahh..." Federico chuckles. "Canneloni and Farfalle are sleeping off their hangover upstairs, Fusilli went out to get groceries, and Rigatoni fell asleep in the garden. We... had a bit of a rough night yesterday."

"...that's only four. What happened to Fagottini? And I still can't believe you named them all after noodles," Rosa remarks flatly. "And I thought I heard a rumour about a Cloud you found?"

"Fagottini is visiting his sister, she recently had twins. And it's a family tradition to have Guardians with food-themed cover names." Federico winks at her. "We can't all be like Xanxus and give them cool demon names. About the Cloud, that didn't work out. Shame, she'd have made an excellent Pennete. And I can't have the Inheritance Ceremony without the full set."

"Too bad," Rosa commiserates. "Anneloni sounds better as a noodle-name, though."

"I'm gonna remember that," Federico mutters as he prepares her a drink. "So, have you got your eyes on potential Guardians?"

"Not really. Not after that shit Felicia pulled." Her smile fades. "I'm only eight anyway."

"Hey, I had my fist Guardian at age seven," Federico says. "Granted, that's seriously early, but I never regretted it, and neither did Rigatoni."

"I do know that I won't be naming my Guardians after noodles," Rosa snorts. "Xanxus would kill me for the lameness."

Federico gasps and holds a hand to his heart. "Lameness! Fair princess Rosabella, why do you wound me so?"

She grins, but it fades. "Seriously, though. Shouldn't you be a bit more careful?"

"Huh? Why?"

She looks down. "After Uncle Massimo... and Papa... well..." Her fists clench and unclench.

His hand squeezes her shoulder. "Hey. I'm careful enough. And believe me, my Guardians are going to be here at the drop of a hat if there's trouble."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Federico gives her a soft smile.

"I wanted to thank you," Rosa blurts. Her uncle looks at her, nonplussed. "I heard you helped with the investigation."

"Well," Federico scratches his neck uncomfortably. "They were my brothers, y'know? And seriously, Xanxus did more than me."

"That doesn't meant that what you did was insignificant," she says quietly. "It means a lot to me."

"I just... wished I could have saved them," Federico admits darkly. "It feels so wrong, becoming Vongola Decimo when it was supposed to be _them_."

"Stop. Just.. stop," Rosa interrupts what looks to be shaping up to be an emotional speech. And pauses when Xanxus voice sounds over her comm-unit.

_"All clear. Go for it, brat."_

"They wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself, Uncle Rico," she says earnestly. "And yeah, it was supposed to be Papa, but that doesn't mean you won't be a good boss, either. I think you might do pretty well. You were my favourite uncle when I was younger, you know?"

Federico smiles fondly. "Aww, that's so sweet." He leans forward to hug her. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry."

Rosa leans into him. "You will be," she says coldly and stabs the poisoned dagger into his side. Simultaneously she drops to the floor to avoid getting grabbed, but she needn't have bothered.

"W-what?" Federico asks around numb lips as he falls to the ground. The paralytics work fast. "R-rosa?"

Her kick smashes into his ribs. He screams.

"Your guardians won't come. They're already dead. Xanxus dealt with them. Thanks for telling us their exact locations." Rosa looks disdainfully down at his horrified face. "Perhaps now you know how Papa and Uncle Massimo felt when you had their Guardians killed and them right after, no?"

"W-what, this isn't f-funny, R-rosa-" he gasps out.

"No, it fucking isn't," she hisses back, Flames sparking from her hands. "You had us all fooled. But it was you who stood to gain the most from Papa's and Uncle Massimo's deaths, isn't that right, Heir Vongola?"

"I d-don't know what-"

"Like hell. It was all you. _You_ were the one who tipped those people off where to ambush and kill them. Your own _brothers_. _You_ were the one co-leading the investigation in cooperation with CEDEF - how funny that they never found anything! _You_ tipped off Xanxus so that he'd eliminate all potential witnesses. And you set it up to look like it was all Xanxus' plan if anyone got suspicious." She leans down. " _You murdered my father and you're going to pay_."

"N-no, mercy, p-please-"

Heavy steps sound behind her. "I want the killing blow," Rosa states flatly.

Xanxus' glare is something out of this world as he stares down at the man who had been his favourite brother. His once most trusted family member.

" _There won't be much left to kill, Rosa._ "

 

―~~―~~―

 

Federico Vongola is found assassinated when Rosa is eight.

The only thing left of him are the charred remains of his bones. They have to use DNA samples to identify him.

Xanxus of the Varia leads the investigation himself. His rage knows no bounds. A large number of Vongola's enemies fall.

No one thinks anything of it when Rosabella Vongola starts wearing feathers in her hair. It's no secret that she admires Xanxus.

The truth is that Xanxus put the feathers into her hair himself. He didn't say anything about it, but she knows what it means.

She and Xanxus are cut from the same cloth.


	4. Fading Trust

Rose Hariel Potter had never had great morals. How could she, growing up like she did, with the Dursleys as an example? The Dursleys, who were regarded as upstanding and model citizens?

Cruelty had always been a part of her life.

It had started with her never really being attributed with her own name until she got to school. Even then, her aunt told everyone to call her 'Harry'. A boy's name, a name that would make other children sneer at her. And also a name that purposefully implied that she was not a member of the family, because then she'd have been named for a flower.

The Dursleys had always gone out of their way to make her feel bad about herself. To make her feel like she wasn't a person at all.

Then the Wizarding World had happened, and for a brief time Harry had thought that she might manage to be 'Rose', a normal girl with a wonderful life full of magic and friends. That had lasted until the first _Merlin-it's-Rose-Potter_ , spoken in awestruck tones, and she'd realised that even here she wouldn't be reaching person-status, though for different reasons. 'Rose Potter' was an icon, a symbol, an idea.

She'd decided to go by 'Harry'.

It didn't quite succeed in warding off the hero-worship, but it had at least created some distance in between 'Girl-Who-Lived Rose Potter' and herself, in her mind anyway.

The point is, Harry was no hero. Most people thought she was, or at least were of the firm opinion that she was a sweet and brave girl with a heart of gold. That wasn't really the truth. Harry learnt morals from the Dursleys after all, and all she'd done that seemed heroic was because she wanted to protect the few people she called friends, because it'd make them happy, or because she abhorred the thought of disappointing them.

She didn't really understand why she had to be on the Quidditch Team, but it seemed to be a good thing and Ron loved Quidditch and she liked flying, so why not? Neville was nice to her and Draco bullied him, so she stood up for him. Ginny was Ron's sister and he'd have been unhappy to see her die, also Hogwarts would have been closed down if she died, so Harry went to save her.

It gave her reputation as a people-saver and her friends liked that, so Harry let them believe that. But it had hardly anything to do with morals. She was by no means a bad person, but she wasn't a paragon of virtue and morals either.

In a lot of ways, Rosabella Vongola felt like the person Harry had never gotten to be.

 

―~~―~~―

 

Life in the Varia changes. Not drastically, but there's a certain tension in the air because everyone knows that Xanxus is going to be Vongola Decimo now that Federico is dead. It's only a matter of time before it's announced.

Since the announcement will put the Varia under a shit ton of scrutiny from the entire Mafia World in general and Vongola and its allies in particular, preparations need to be made. Viper - who now calls herself Mammon and goes by male prounouns, Rosa is pretty sure that there's a huge-ass illusion involved because most of everyone seems to just _forget_ that 'Mammon' is a bloody Arcobaleno - is in addition to Accounting put in charge of Intel, which had previously been Ottabio's job, but since he fucked up by not noticing Federico's betrayal, clearly he wasn't up to the job. Also, no matter how skilled, Rosa _should not have been able_ to pull files and hack his computer.

Levi is tasked with reviewing Security from the ground up. Lussuria comes down hard on staff policies and medical procedures. Squalo reworks Training from the scratch. Ottabio is put in charge of Archives and oversees Recruitment, which is probably a punishment, not that the guy knows what for - Xanxus and Rosa are the only ones in the know about Federico.

And Rosa... Rosa gets put in charge of the currently leaderless Storm Division. It's a huge responsibility, and also incredibly exhausting. Being in charge of a dozen people who all have a propensity for destruction and vicious tempers? _Paperwork_. At least, the Storm Division has been kept small due to the fact that Xanxus has no Storm Guardian - yet.

The problem is, while she's trusted by Xanxus and his guardians, she's practically unknown to everyone else. She mostly keeps to the Varia Mansion where Xanxus, his guardians, and trusted staff reside. That means that to the people in the Storm Division, most of which aren't even aware of the relation between her and Xanxus, she's just an upstart brat. It means she has to prove herself stronger than them before they can even consider accepting her as any kind of leader.

It's the first time she realises that the training she's been getting since age four made her fucking _strong_. The one most surprised that she manages to subdue _all_ of the Storms is herself. (The one least surprised is Xanxus. He'd watched it all on the security tapes. Rosa got a nice pat on the head and a cookie afterwards.)

Funny enough, the Storms start worshipping her after that. Weird shit, that, but whatever.

Rosa is well aware of why she's been given this job. It's because once Xanxus is Decimo, _someone_ will have to lead the Varia. Or the CEDEF, because no way in hell would Xanxus ever work with Idiotic Iemitsu. Regardless, this is to prepare her to be a leader someday. And she'd already proven herself to Xanxus by discovering Federico's betrayal, weathering Xanxus' reaction, and dealing out the punishment herself. Now she just has to prove herself to the rest of the world.

Rosa starts scouting the Varia for potential Guardians, too. Even tries to bond with a Storm, one Fiamma Zabini, but it doesn't work out, her Flames aren't pure enough to match hers, which is too bad. There is a short period of Harmony, but while nice it feels uncomfortable and constricting and gets worse and worse until they decide to break it off.

doesn't stay idle either. He's networking, going on missions, relentlessly hunting after enemies which makes his reputation in the Family _soar_. Sometimes he takes Rosa with him - not on assassinations though, not yet - so she can benefit, too.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

A year passes, and Xanxus hasn't been named Heir yet. It might be because Timoteo had lost three of his sons and can't bring himself to name another son Heir only to lose him. It could be because Rosa and Xanxus had told nobody about Federico's betrayal and so the reasons behind his death were unknown, and so they were hesitating in announcing another Heir while the murderer might still be out there.

Still, it had only taken a few months for Massimo to be named heir after Rosa's father's death, and the same went for Federico after Massimo's murder.

It's weird, but  Rosa doesn't really have time to think about it because after one mission Xanxus comes back with a boy tucked under his arm. A giggling, blood-spattered boy Rosa's age, perhaps a bit younger than her nine years.

"Get the prince-trash up to speed," Xanxus orders Rosa.

She levels an unimpressed look upon the 'prince-trash'. Thin, like he hadn't gotten much to eat lately, though none of the gauntness indicating long-term starvation. Pale hair obscures his eyes. And a seriously unhinged grin sits on his face.

Xanxus deposits him at her feet none too gently. "Listen up, trash," he growls at him. "This little shit here," he claps Rosa on the shoulder. "Is fucking in charge of you. You do whatever the hell she tells you to do, and you got a problem, you go to her, got that, trash. And you'll fucking respect the shit out of her or else."

"Ushishishishi..." the boy giggles. "Is she a princess?"

Rosa sighs. "You always attract the insane ones, uncle," she says to Xanxus. To the boy, she says, "Sure. Whatever."

"I will respect the princess, then," the boy giggles. "Because I'm a prince."

"Uhuh," she mutters. "You got a name?"

"I am Prince Belphegor."

She raises her eyebrows. Apparently he already had a demon name. Good for him. Wait, did that make him... "Your Storm?" she asks Xanxus. "You've got a full set now."

He grins wildly. "I got shit to do. You deal with that," he says and stalks off.

"Smug lazy bastard," she mutters under her breath. "Alright, I'm Rosa. Can you stand?"

Belphegor stands up and wobbles a bit. She narrows her eyes. No acute injuries, but severely weakened, likely due to the malnutrition. "A fine name for a pretty princess." He grins mockingly.

His grin slips when one of Rosa's kubotans slips from her sleeves into her hand and she slams him into a wall, the tip of the weapon digging into his throat. "You will find, Belphegor," she hisses. "That I'm a lot more than just a pretty princess."

"Ushishishishi..." he laughs nervously. "Of course, princess."

She narrows her eyes at him and withdraws her weapon. Belphegor almost slides to the ground, but manages to catch himself. "Follow me," she orders and stalks down a corridor. The noise behind her tells her that he stumbles after her. Good. She'd hate to have to repeat orders. "You can call me Rosa if you want," she throws over her shoulder.

He's apparently regained his moxie, because his grin is as flippant as before. She inwardly nods with approval. He'd need some grit to survive being Varia in general and Xanxus' Guardian in particular. And also, she wouldn't leave the Storms under her command to some spineless moron. Clouds weren't the only ones who could be territorial.  "Only if the princess calls the prince Bel," Belphegor drawls.

"We'll get along fine, Bel," she smirks. "This is the way to the Sun Wing, by the way. You'll find the infirmary meant for Xanxus' guardians there. There's another hospital building on the grounds which is run by the Sun Squad, but it's meant for the general forces and is not as equipped. Anyway, we are currently on the ground floor of the Varia Mansion, where you'll find the meeting hall, various meeting rooms, and a few training halls. Second Floor contains the Sun Wing, the kitchen, and the Sun Guardian's quarters. Also a damn large wardrobe, but that's more because Luss likes to play dressup. Also on the second floor, but on the opposite side, is the Lightning Wing, contains the Lightning Guardian's quarters, and security." The reach a huge staircase. It looks elegant. No one would guess that it gets blown up at least twice a week. "Third floor has your wing, and the Mist Wing on the other side, where you'll also find Accounting and Intel. A floor above that has the Rain and Cloud Wing, and also the Archive. Top floor is Xanxus', and I stay there as well. Underground levels contain the main armory, the mortuary, T&I, R&D, the bomb shelter, food reserves and some other stuff. On the grounds there are buildings for each Flame division plus one for non-Flame users, the aforementioned hospital, training areas, and a shit ton of other crap you can figure out yourself. Got that so far? You'll get a tour later. Maybe."

They reach the end of the staircase. Rosa enters the entrance codes and puts her hand on the scanner so they can enter second floor. "You'll receive your own access codes once you've proven yourself. Until then, you're stuck with me or whoever else I can dump you on."

"I'm going to have access within a week," he drawls.

"If you say so," she answers. "Here we are." She knocks on the door.

It flies open and before them stands Lussuria in a fluffy pink bathrobe. "Rosabella, my darling~!" he sings. "Oh~! Who's your cute little friend?"

"Xanxus brought him," she says flatly, long since used to Lussuria's exuberance. "Storm."

Lussuria squeals and hugs Belphegor. "Ohhh! We're going to have so much fun! I can colour coordinate you two, and we can have tea parties-"

"Ushishishi," Belphegor laughs darkly. " _The prince wishes to be released._ "

Rosa ignores him. "Luss, do you mind looking him over? Clean him up, check his health, draw up a diet plan? I'm gonna get someone to clean up the Storm Wing." She groans. "Hasn't been used in ages... at least it was cleaned after it blew up last year..."

" _Let the prince go or there shall be a bloodbath._ "

"And let me know how much training he can do without, you know, risking his health."

"Of course, Rosa-darling~!" Lussuria sings.

 _"Ushishi let me go!_ "

"And if you could find him clothes, that would be great."

Lussuria squeals. Rosa blinks as he and Belphegor disappear so fast they might as well have teleported.

...Never underestimate Lussuria's love for dressing up.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Belphegor does manage to get the access codes within the week. It involves a huge bloody mess with a bunch of newbies who thought they could mess with the boy and Rosa.

There wasn't much left of them afterwards. Rosa didn't even have to lift a finger.

It causes Squalo to wrest the control over Recruitment from Ottabio who had been the one to hire the fuckers, and also to step up training because if a malnourished self-taught runt that had been in the Varia barely four days with basically no training involved could take down five supposedly promising adults who'd been getting training for at least two months, and some even more than that, then clearly something needed to be fucking done.

The Varia are the strongest. Weakness is eliminated. Or at least strongly and painfully discouraged, it'd be a waste of resources to just kill weaklings off. Mammon would flip his shit.

"Where are we going, Princess?" Belphegor asks her a week after the incident as he trails after her much like he'd been doing since he arrived.

Rosa grins in anticipation. "We are going to the Storm training ground and meeting the Storm Division."

"Oh?" There's a spark of interest in his voice.

"I haven't told them about you. As far as they know, you're just another recruit." She shrugs. "Technically, you're their leader now. But you still have to gain their respect."

"Ushishishi..." Belphegor grins disconcertingly.

"To put it in Xanxus' words: They don't have to like you. They just have to be willing to fucking jump into hell itself on your say-so." Rosa shoots him a look. "How you achieve that is up to you."

Later, she wonders if she shouldn't have worded that a bit differently.

Well. Too late for that now. At least no one died (thanks to Rosa). And the Sun Squad is very much happy to have a number of interesting wounds to practice their medical skills on.

"Still," Rosa says. "Make sure not to take _all_ of them out at once next time. You'll have to cover for their absence. Plus, _paperwork_."

"Ushishishi," Belphegor giggles. "They won't disrespect the Prince another time."

She shoots him a look, something she'd gotten a lot of practice in. "That doesn't mean they won't catch you in one of your moods." Then she shrugs. "Oh well. It's your mess now. The paperwork is all yours."

"Ushishi, but Princess, I'm making you my secretary."

"Bel," Rosa begins and pulls out her kubotan. " _No_."

Belphegor grins in anticipation and pulls out his knives. " _Yes_."

Rosa's weapons light up with brilliant orange Flames. " _NO._ "

Soon after, Belphegor is once again under Lussuria's loving care.

With him incapacitated, Rosa has to do the paperwork anyway.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

By the time Rosa's tenth birthday arrives, a year and four months after Federico's death, Xanxus still hasn't been declared Heir despite having a full complement of Guardians (though Ottabio doesn't really count, he isn't Harmonised with Xanxus and is only in the Varia as a relict from Tyr's, the former leader's, reign.

Lussuria _wanted_ to throw a huge party for Rosa's birthday, but knew that she isn't really a fan of those. So instead he plans a birthday dinner with gifts from Xanxus and his Guardians. Bel is going to surprise her by dragging her to the Storm Squad training where she'll no doubt be showered with congratulations and treated to a show battle. (Of course she knows about the surprise. Storms are kinda bad at keeping secrets, and Rosa has Hyper Intuition.)

Of course, there would later be a huge celebration at the Vongola Mansion, complete with a ball and introductions to Important People and allies because a tenth birthday is a big deal, and it also means that she's officially eligible to accept Guardian Bonds, though she could have done so before as well.

As it is, that celebration never happens.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Xanxus has been in an awful mood for weeks. Rosa doesn't know exactly what happened, he just came from a visit to Vongola's Headquarters, also known as the Iron Fort, in a horrible mood that didn't get any better in the following weeks. And he'd been avoiding her ever since, even at her own birthday dinner today which made the whole thing horribly awkward. Worse yet, the other Varia are avoiding her too.

Something is going on that Rosa isn't privy to, and that hurts. The others have meetings that she isn't invited to, they talk and immediately stop once she comes into hearing range. At first she thought they were planning a surprise party despite her wishes, but her intuition told her that that was not the case.

And whatever they are up to involves the troops as well. They'd been practicing maneuvers and field operations, training had been stepped up once again, and _everyone_ had been supplied with new weapons. And Rosa had been kept far away from it all, relegated to managing R &D and overseeing the renovation of the bomb shelter.

Now, a few hours after her birthday dinner, she's just getting ready for bed when her door is knocked on. "Voi! The shitty boss wants to see you!" Squalo's impatient voice barks. "Hurry the fuck up!"

"It's the middle of the night, this better be life and death!" she hollers back as she pulls her boots back on, glad that she isn't already in her sleepwear.

Squalo doesn't answer that, and Rosa begins to get an uneasy feeling. Maybe this has something to do with whatever had been bothering Xanxus so badly. She walks out of her room and looks at Squalo who gives her an unreadable look of his own. "He's in his private office," he tells her and turns to leave before she can reply.

She nods and walks down the corridor.

"Rosa," Squalo says from behind her. She turns her head in his direction.

"What is it?" she asks.

He's still staring at her with that odd look. Then he shakes his head. "Nothing," he grinds out and leaves for good.

Rosa frowns in confusion, then shakes her head. Maybe Xanxus would have answers for her.

She knocks at the heavy oaken door before entering. "You wanted to see me?" she asks, feeling oddly timid.

Xanxus is sitting on his monster of a couch, two glasses of wine on the table next to him. "Come here."

Rosa walks over to him slowly. The office is oddly organised for Xanxus' standards and it only serves to make her more uneasy. He never cleans up. Claims as long as he knows where everything is it can stay as it fucking is. Drives Rosa insane considering she more often than not gets his paperwork dumped on her. Though not recently.

She sits down next to him. A careful glance shows his angry expression aimed at the floor.

"Okay, spill. What the hell's wrong?" she asks. He throws her a glare before thrusting a small packet out at her. She blinks, he'd given her a present already, a really nice Varia jacket.

"Open it," he growls. She shrugs and does as he says.

Inside the packet is a ring made from some silvery metal, engraved with Flames and feathers, an orange stone sitting in the middle. "Whoa," she murmurs as she takes it out to study it. The light catches nicely on the gem. "This is for me?"

"Do you see another birthday girl here, brat? Put it the fuck on," Xanxus snorts.

The ring slides on her right ring finger. It fits perfectly. She smiles and gives Xanxus a quick hug. "Thanks."

His lips quirk up a bit. "Whatever, brat." He hands her one of the wine glasses and takes the other. "Ten years is a big fucking deal."

Rosa snorts. "Whatever you say. Here's hoping I make it to age fifteen this time." Her glass clinks into Xanxus'. "Seriously. Thank you. You're the best."

And then Rosa drinks her wine and because she's distracted by the happy atmosphere she fails to notice the warnings of her intuition. And so she tastes the sedative too late before the world goes black.

And the last thing she feels is Xanxus picking her up and saying _'I'm sorry, Rosa,'_ into her ear.

 

 


	5. Breaking World

Rosa is not in Varia Headquarters anymore when she wakes up. She isn't in the Iron Fort - also known as Vongola Headquarters - either. Or anywhere she recognises.

"Okay," she says into the silence. "This is officially the worst birthday ever."

Her phone is gone. The house she's in is empty. It's a small, cozy cottage in the middle of nowhere. It's got a bedroom, a living room with a television, a small kitchen, and a really nice bathroom. The fridge is fully stocked, the pantry full of cans with conservable food.

Rosa had long before been briefed on Varia issued safe houses and finds the cellar pretty quickly. There's a shelf with weapons she probably won't need because while her phone is gone, her kubotans are not. She finds an escape route complete with a motorbike small enough for her to use. There's also a map of the surrounding area.

Nothing else. No letter, no information how she ended up there. But a look at the television tells her that she's been asleep for over two days.

Not good. Not good at all.

It's pretty clear to her that she'd been put here by Xanxus. Why, she had no idea. Had the Varia gotten compromised and this was for her safety? Had _Vongola_ gotten compromised? What's going on? And just _why_ is her intuition so very unhappy?

(Xanxus doesn't apologise, ever. And his last words to her had been an apology.)

(She didn't want to lose another member of her family. Please, _please_ let Xanxus be okay.)

Okay. She knows protocol. She'd slept for two days and nobody had come to retrieve her. The lack of information meant that she wasn't supposed to be alone when waking up. So. Something had gone _really_ wrong.

But surely it'd blow over.

Right.

She'd wait for someone to come for another day. Otherwise she'd drive that bike to the next city and find a phone.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

The day passes with no news or contact. Rosa gets intimately familiar with the cottage and the weapons in the cellar, but mostly she's glued to the television. There is in fact a Mafia channel, one that seemingly only airs _really_ bad sketch shows, but is in reality full of information for those who know the codewords, which Rosa does.

There is _nothing_ about the Vongola. Instead, it's all about some shit that went down with the Estraneo Famiglia, but details obviously can't be disclosed via television. All she gets is that they did something deemed too unethical for even the Mafia.

Since nothing of what she wants to know is disclosed on MafiaTV, she checks out the regular channels. Nothing of interest there either, except that several Vongola affiliated companies aren't doing that well on the stock market as of last week. But as there's no reason given... well. Other than that, there's a presidential election in Croatia, unrest in the Middle East, and Britain lives in fear of continued terrorist attacks.

No information on Vongola whatsoever.

So it is with dark apprehension that she packs a change of clothes - the closet had been fully stocked with both civilian and Varia clothing that had Lussuria written all over it - arms herself with two guns, a number of knives, and of course her kubotans, and leaves the safe house on the bike.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

The hotel she finds is dingy and rundown. But it has a working phone, and in the middle of the night there is little chance of anyone catching her using it.

Xanxus doesn't answer. Bel doesn't answer. Lussuria, Squalo, and Levi do not answer. She doesn't bother with calling Ottabio or Varia Office.

She couldn't call Nonno or his Guardians, the call from an unknown number would get fielded to some other office, and she doesn't know who would answer it.

That leaves one other option.

The phone on the other side is picked up after four rings. "Who is this," a rough sleep-deprived voice demands.

"It's Rosa," she answers. "Iemitsu-"

"Rosa-chan!" he bellows. "My God, where are you! We thought we'd lost you-"

"What's going on?" she interrupts.

"Tell me where you've been first."

Rosa knows an order when she hears it.

"I woke up in a safe house. I waited for someone to retrieve me. No one came in two days, so I made my way to the nearest city. Iemitsu, what's going on? Why isn't Xanxus answering his phone, is he okay? And Squalo and the others?"

"Stay where you are. Someone will pick you up."

She casts a look around. "I'm not exactly in a safe location."

She hears some papers shuffling and a muffled curse. "Where are you?"

She recites the city's and hotel's name. After a minute, Iemitsu rattles of an address and tells her to wait there. He hangs up before she can ask more.

Just what had happened in the Vongola?

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa is picked up by a man who introduces himself as Turmeric. Her questions go unanswered, so she doesn't bother answering his either.

He drives her to a small airport where a private jet waits for them. A few hours later and they're in Sicily where the Iron Fort is located. She's hustled in through a backdoor. And then she's _interrogated_.

Where has she been (ask Iemitsu), was Xanxus acting odd (yes), had he told her anything of his plans (excuse me?), and variations of those same questions over and over again until she's about to explode.

Luckily for her interrogators, Iemitsu comes in. "That's enough," he tells the men who obey him instantly - they're _his_ men then.

"You look like shit," Rosa tells him while she gets up from her uncomfortable chair. And it's true, Iemitsu has dark shadows beneath his eyes, his skin is pale, his hair unkempt.

He folds her into a hug that makes her stiffen in anxiety.

Iemitsu hugging her on sight is nothing new. But this is different. This isn't one announced by an idiotic grin and accompanied by a shout of "Rosaaaa!", followed by bone crushing squeezing and a loud kiss on her hair.

This one is desperate. Tight, but gentle, as if he wants to shield her from the whole world, and it scares Rosa.

"Why won't anyone tell me what happened?" she whispers helplessly.

"I'm sorry," Iemitsu answers. He lets go of her but leaves a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Come on. We're going to see Timoteo. I'll- " He pauses. "We need to talk."

"Please," she asks, staring up at him. "Please tell me Xanxus is okay."

He looks away.

"Is he dead?" she whispers numbly.

"No." Iemitsu starts walking, his hand on her shoulder urging her to do the same. "He isn't."

"Then what-"

"You look dead on your feet, Rosa-chan. I promise we'll tell you, but it's better for everyone involved to do it in private and sitting down." He manages to give her an exhausted grin.

"Don't bother with fake smiles," she only says. "Hyper Intuition, remember?"

"Right." He rakes a hand over his face. "Habit. How're you holding up?"

"I'd be a lot better if I knew what the hell is going on." She wraps her arms around herself.

"Don't be so sure about that." Iemitsu sighs. "Sorry. It's been a long day."

She studies his face. "A long multiple days, rather," she remarks. "As stated earlier, you look like shit."

"Language," he scolds. A tired smile, a real one, tugs at his lips though. "I'm glad you're okay. I was worried about you. We all were."

She sighs. "You can hug me again. But just to be clear, I will deny giving you permission to anyone who asks and I still think you're a big idiot."

That gets a short laugh out of him. His hand briefly leaves her shoulder to mess up her hair. "It really is good to have you back, Rosa-chan."

Rosa's lips twitch despite herself. But the brief spark of amusement brought on by the relief some familiarity fades all too quickly as they arrive before her grandfather's office.

Somehow, she knows that there won't be much laughter in her future. And that everything is going to change. Or already has.

Iemitsu pushes open the door, and she follows him inside.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Nonno Timoteo is up from his elaborate chair before Rosa has even fully entered his office. A moment later, she's once more enfolded into a tight hug. "Rosa," he murmurs. "Dear girl, I thought we had lost you."

Rosa chokes up and can't get any words past the lump in her throat. She wouldn't have known what to say anyway. So instead, she just hugs him back tightly. "I'm okay," she finally manages to say in a small voice. "But I really need to know what's going on."

He sighs and lets go of her. His kind eyes look into hers. "Are you sure? You look like you could do with a bit of rest, dear."

She shakes her head mutely. He sighs again. "Come, have a seat."

Rosa sits down in a chair in front of his desk. Timoteo sits in his own chair, and Iemitsu takes up a position slightly behind him, and a part of Rosa mourns the loss of warmth at her side.

Timoteo's guardians, the ones present in the room, silently leave without prompting, leaving only the Vongola family in the room.

"Where is Xanxus," Rosa asks calmly. By now, she's employing mental exercises to keep herself calm.

Timoteo studies her silently, fingers steeped together. This is not her kind grandfather, it's the boss of the Vongola Famiglia. When he speaks, his voice rings with truth.

"Three days ago, Xanxus attempted to remove me from power and take the seat of Vongola Decimo for himself. To do so, he used the Varia in an attack on the Iron Fort. He failed and has been exiled. Until you called Iemitsu, we feared for your safety."

"T-that's not funny," Rosa whispers disbelievingly.

"I assure you, I am not joking."

"But Xanxus would never-"

"He did," Iemitsu cuts in. "And the losses speak for themselves. We lost over a third of our forces at the Iron Fort."

"W-what, no, that's _impossible_ , Xanxus loves Vongola, you're _lying_." She shakes her head wildly, eyes stinging. The forced calm is a thing of the past. "He'd _never_ \- why would he-"

"To become Vongola Decimo." Timoteo's voice is calm. "His impatience always was a flaw of his."

"But- but-" Rosa's hands clutch at her hair. "That's not-"

"Rosa," one of the men begins gently.

"This is _your_ fault!" she bursts out, glaring at Timoteo. "If you hadn't hesitated so long in making him your heir-"

"Enough!" Iemitsu thunders. "How dare you-"

But Timoteo holds up his hand. "Perhaps it _is_ my fault, but recent events prove that Xanxus is not a suitable option for Vongola Decimo. To take things by force when he wants them is not the Vongola way anymore. He already did enough damage simply as leader of Varia. I fear for the future if he became leader of Vongola as well."

"This wouldn't have happened if you-"

" _Rosabella_." Timoteo's voice rings with power, and the force of his Flames surges. Rosa collapses in her chair wide-eyed, hands trembling. Inarticulate sounds come out of her throat. Timoteo sighs and curbs his Flames until she can breathe again. "I know you and Xanxus were close, and this must hurt you. However-"

"I want so see him." Her words surprise even herself. "I want to talk to him."

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Timoteo answers.

"Why not?" she demands.

"I believe it best that you be kept away from his influence." Rosa's eyes narrow at that answer.

"I'm sure I don't understand what you mean," she answers bitingly.

"What he means," Iemitsu says in his gravelly voice. "Is that you are now the sole eligible heiress to Vongola, and we don't want you influenced by someone who has proven himself unstable and powerhungry. It's bad enough that he had you under his thumb for so long already. Who knows what damage he did to you."

"I-" she begins. " _WHAT?!_ "

"Iemitsu," Timoteo chides the younger man before he turns back to her. "He is right, though. You will be Vongola Decima, Rosabella Vongola."

"No," she whispers, shaking her head in denial. "No!"

This couldn't be happening. It had to be a dream, a nightmare. When she woke up, she'd be in her bed in the Varia HQ, Xanxus only a door away. Lussuria would make breakfast, Belphegor and her would train together, she'd have lessons with Mammon, Levi would be harping on her about manners and shit, and Squalo would be Squalo.

The walls are closing in, and her breaths come in sharp bursts. Her chair clatters to the ground as she aprubtly jumps up and runs to the door. "I need to think!" she gasps out before she flees the room.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rooms and people pass by in a blur as Rosa runs through the hallways of the Iron Fort. Some people yell at her, she ignores them. When they try to grab her, her hands clench into fists and break holds and bones.

 _This isn't real,_ she thinks desperately. _This isn't real isn't real isn't real. Xanxus has to be here somewhere. Come on where are you!_

Her intuition stay silent, her heart wrenching in pain. Her hands come away wet when she rubs at her face.

She bursts through a door and cool, sweet-smelling air caresses her face. Her eyes widen a bit at the moonlight. She'd made it to the gardens. The beautiful flowers sway gently in the soft warm breeze, and none of the turmoil is present here.

Rosa's steps take her inside the maze of hedges. She'd been here before, of course. But at night it seemed completely different, not that she cares at the moment.

She collapses on a stone bench and now that she's alone, the sobs break free.

Hyper Intuition is a useful thing. A great many people in the Mafia would kill to have it. What hardly anyone realises is that it can also be curse. Because it can destroy hope.

Rosa's Intuition tells her in no uncertain terms: Xanxus is _gone_. Which means she's _alone_.

Why hadn't Xanxus _told_ her? She thought he _trusted_ her! And now he had been taken who-knows-where (please, not Vendicare, _please_ ) and she couldn't help him.

She isn't even sure what hurts more: That he'd betrayed her and Vongola, or that he hadn't asked her to join him in betrayal, because she would have been right by his side had he only asked. Does that make her a traitor? Probably.

And now he's gone.

And she is to become Vongola Decima. It seems like a cruel joke to her. Something that would have happened to _Harry_.

 _I could leave_ , she thinks traitorously. _Find Xanxus._

And yet another thought comes to her. _I could go back to Britain and find out just why I was reborn. There has to be a purpose. I could leave all this pain behind.  
_

They're just thoughts she entertains briefly, fueled by her grief, anger, and betrayal. But somewhere in the back of her mind, they stick.

It is quite a bit later when her crying finally stops and she sits in numb exhaustion. No one had come after her, perhaps Timoteo had given orders to leave her alone. For better or for worse, she doesn't know. She might have appreciated someone distracting her, or she might have hated them for it.

"What now?" she murmurs softly.

Vongola Decima. Boss of the Vongola Famiglia. Leader of thousands of people.

She doesn't _want_ this. All she'd ever wanted was a family to love, protect, and rely on. And she had had that. But it had been chipped away at and now she is the only one left - Timoteo and Iemitsu might be family, but they couldn't be trusted. Sure, they would protect her. But she wouldn't be able to _talk_ to them about how she felt. Wouldn't be able to _trust_ them. And from now on, she would always wonder if they saw her as Vongola Decima, or as just Rosa, the person. And they would put her in a _cage_ , to ensure she grew up to be what they thought was a good boss.

There was no Xanxus to protect her from manipulation anymore.

Steps approach. She looks up.

"Good evening, Rosabella," says Ottabio, righting his glasses. "Or rather, good morning?" He smiles sheepishly, but it fades. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. You must be so distraught."

"What are you doing here?" Rosa asks in confusion. "I thought that the Varia had all been-" Her voice cuts off as her mind begins racing. She has a bad feeling about this.

"Ahh..." Ottabio says. "I'm afraid Xanxus didn't trust me enough with his plans. I have been kept out of the house with missions."

He's lying. Rosa tends to get paperwork dumped on her, Belphegor's and Xanxus' especially. There hadn't been an increase in Ottabio's workload, if anything, he'd been kept near Varia grounds.

"It seems we were both deceived," Ottabio continues on obliviously. He sits down next to her on the stone bench.

The unease spreads and she casts a look around. They are alone.

But there _has_ to be some sort of surceillance on her. Not only is she practically confirmed as Timoteo's heiress, she had been Xanxus' ward, someone _everyone_ has deemed to be a traitor. (Which couldn't be _right_.)

She stands up. "I'm tired. I'm going back inside," she says tightly. A hand clamps down on her arm. Ottabio smiles at her.

"Please, stay, Rosabella," he says. "It will take only a minute."

"Let go of me," she demands. " _Now_."

He does and backs up a few steps, lifting his empty hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He laughs self-deprecatingly, rubbing at the back of his head. "I'm a bit - distraught, you could say. You would understand, wouldn't you? But still, there is no excuse for grabbing you so harshly, Rosabella. Or should I say, Lady Decima?"

She backs up another step. "Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

"I merely thought us two should keep together..." Ottabio smiles at her, but there's a glint of something unsettling in his eyes. "After all, we are in the same situation, no?" He takes another step toward her.

"No. I don't trust you," she answers.

"Rosabella, my dear, my Sky, you can trust _only_ me," Ottabio croons, reaching for her. "This is for your own good!"

"I'm not your Sky!" she shouts. She reaches for her weapons... before she realises that she had been disarmed before her interrogation. "Go away!"

His face twists in anger for a moment, but then the smile is back. "Rosabella, dear. Please. You know you need guardians, and I am a strong Cloud."

She shakes her head. "Don't come any closer," she hisses, fists raised.

Ottabio is not just a grunt she could beat, especially not without her weapons. He had been the Varia Cloud Officer.

His smile fades. "Foolish girl," he snarls. "But I suppose your blindness only makes you more adorable..." He smiles again. And walks toward her with the surety of a cat of prey.

Flames burst from her hands and forehead as she slips into Dying Will mode. It's much harder to maintain without her weapons as mediums and she can only do it for a minute or two, but it's better than nothing.

Rosa had hoped that the sight of her Flames bursting from her skin would scare him off. But instead, his smile widens, and his eyes glaze over with greed and something else she doesn't recognise but makes her skin crawl in revulsion.

She angles her hands and a burst of Flame catapults her forward, a fist flying at Ottabio. He evades and attempts to grab her, but one of the first things she'd been taught was how to slip out of holds. She launches a kick at his knee that he catches and uses to trow her to the ground. Growling, she rolls to her feet again before he can pin her on the ground, and smashes her burning forehead into his face.

He screams. "How _dare_ you, Rosabella! After all I did for you... after all I did to separate you from that bastard!"

Everything in her slows to a stop. "You..." she whispers in disbelief. "You betrayed Xanxus?"

He grins, an ugly, twisted thing, and it's not because of the burns on his face. "Corrupting you, my perfect angel, lording over me! The Varia should have been _mine_ with Tyr's death! But who is laughing now? Who do you belong to now? Me! Finally!"

She snarls in rage and catapults herself forward again. This time, the punch would connect and _obliterate_.

And then her Dying Will mode winks out and she stumbles into him, caught in his arms. "Yes," he croons. "Come to me, darling." A hand cradles her cheek even as she struggles, but he's strong, and he has Cloud Flames to boot - Cloud Flames that propagate his physical strength, and without her own Flames, she doesn't stand a chance.

Flames push against her own, trying to force her to accept him as her guardian. She hisses as she continues to Reject him.

And then a shot rings out and Ottabio aprubtly stops, a red dot appearing on his forehead. Eyes glaze over, empty. He falls forward.

Rosa pushes herself out of his dead embrace and jumps back a few steps, seeking cover behind a statue, looking for the one who shot Ottabio.

A weight lands on her shoulder and startles her so badly she falls on her ass.

Bad showing. Xanxus would kill her in training.

Her stomach drops. _Xanxus is gone. There would be no training._

The weight leaves her shoulder and then a baby stands before her. A baby with a fedora and a pacifier. "Ciaossu, Thorny-Rosa."

She blinks at the nickname.

"I'm the home tutor Reborn."


	6. The Home Tutor

Reborn waits.

Upon reaching the suite of rooms he and Rosabella Vongola would share for as long as they stayed at the Iron Fort, his new student had headed straight for the bathroom and locked herself in. He'd heard her throw up before the noise of the shower started.

This gives him time to think about what he has seen so far. Timoteo and Iemitsu's main concern was that Xanxus' teachings might have 'corrupted' her. Vongola does not need a cruel leader, not after all the work Timoteo had done to clean up the Family's act.

Then there was also physical training to think about, though all of them had figured that that wasn't going to be much of a problem considering Rosa'd been with the Varia for years. Which has Reborn kind of miffed actually. He _likes_ when his students start at zero, there's a certain kind of satisfaction in building someone pathetic from the ground up into someone powerful. Obviously, that wouldn't happen here, the girl could already use Flames and go into Dying Will Mode _without_ the help of tools, which he thinks hasn't happened since Vongola Secondo. She's even stronger than any of them had anticipated.

Granted, she'd have lost the fight if not for his intervention, but then she'd been dealing with the shock of facing a traitor, and a strong Cloud at that. Added to that that she'd been tired and distraught, then she hadn't actually done badly for a ten-year old.

Reborn might not get to train her from the ground up, but she shows enough promise and potential that he could forgive that little fact. Of course, he wouldn't be able to be as harsh as he normally is, what with her ridiculously young age - training a ten-year old is one thing, but training a ten-year old as a _mafia boss_? Entirely different.

This was going to be way different from training Dino, that was for sure. Well, it might still be fun anyway. At the very least, it'd be interesting. Reborn always enjoys a good challenge.

The door to the bathroom opens and Rosabella steps out. She'd apparently forgotten to take fresh clothes inside with her and so is still dressed in jeans and t-shirt, and her long hair hangs wet and heavily to her back. Reborn takes a moment to consider her looks. Rather petite for her age, but there's some nice muscle there, and she moves gracefully. She isn't excepionally beautiful facewise, for a child anyway, but her brilliant green eyes and the long blond hair elevate her from average-pretty to eye-catching. She'd looked better on the pictures he's been shown, but then again she'd been smiling in those - a rather nice smile actually, the kind of smile that makes a person feel good just by looking at it.

She certainly doesn't have anything to smile about now.

Rosabella sits down on the bed opposite him, eyes narrowed. "So we're stuck together for the forseeable future," she states bluntly.

Reborn smirks, holding up a gun. "We're going to have so much fun!" he cheers, mentally cataloguing the way she tenses at the sight of the weapon, her body angled in a way that allows her to drop straight to the ground and go for cover. Whoever had trained her had been thorough, it seemed.

"Right," she answers. "Fun. Awesome."

"Smile, Thorny Rosa!" he orders. "You're going to be Vongola Decima!"

"What's with the nickname?" she asks, not a hint of a smile on her face.

"You're prickly, it fits." He shrugs. "Go to sleep now."

Nicknames induce a sense of familiarity. Annoying nicknames would break down mental walls by causing anger.

"I'm not tired," she answers flatly, a blatant lie. She had to have been awake for at least eighteen stressfull hours, complete with interrogation, bad news, subsequent grief, assault, and Flame exhaustion.

He lifts his gun.

"I changed my mind, I'm tired." She fakes a yawn so badly it has to be for the sole reason of annoying him. Then she lies back on the bed, still fully clothed.

Reborn waits a few minutes and then leaves through one of his personal passage ways. It doesn't look like she is going to set out to cause trouble and her room is guarded.

Timoteo had asked him to report back soon after all.

―~~―~~―

"I trust you will keep me informed," finishes Timoteo.

"Of course," answers Reborn. "I should know more soon. What about Xanxus?"

"He's still a traitor," Iemitsu cuts in. "Ottabio might have manipulated events, but he did not instigate them. Xanxus chose to attack us of his own free will. His punishment stands."

Timoteo sighs, looking all too tired and old suddenly, and Reborn remembers that the man had buried three sons, and the fourth is lost to him as well now. And the only granddaughter might or might not be lost as well.

A man bursts into the office. "Sir!" he shouts. "The girl, she isn't in her rooms anymore!"

Reborn shoots him on principle, because first of all, knocking on doors is advised when confronting people wearing guns, and second, what the _hell_ were they thinking entering a young girl's room while she was supposed to be sleeping? Third, the news are annoying.

"Reborn," Timoteo sighs.

He pulls his fedora in his face, a dark smirk playing about his mouth. The gesture doesn't have any meaning, but it makes him look cool and intimidating which is a really good thing for an infant to be. "Later, Timoteo," he promises and jumps out of the room.

Reborn finds Rosabella in one of the numerous armouries studying a shelf filled with guns with furrowed brows. All of them are too large for her child's hands.

He contents himself with watching her as she takes weapon after weapon, testing their weight, practice-aiming at a wall. It's obvious there's some experience there, but also unfamiliarity - most likely she'd been using guns more fit for her smaller hands.

It is kind of interesting, watching without her being aware - before when they had talked, she'd been cautious and defensive. Here, there's no pretending. Her face is grim, but it's _real_ where before it had been carefully blank.

He notes the feathers in her hair that she must have put on after he left - white as opposed to the red ones Xanxus had worn. Do they have any meaning? Are they a sign of loyalty?

She sighs and finally settles on a gun - not the smallest of the lot, but the lightest one, the gun Reborn would have picked out for her, at least from the selection here.

"You're supposed to be sleeping, Thorny-Rosa," he remarks, dangling from a chandelier.

She jumps and turns around in one motion, gun aimed at him with one hand, a dagger in the other - so she hadn't just picked up a gun. She lets the gun sink when she recognises him. "Reborn," she sighs. "Do you honestly think it's a good idea to startle me when I'm holding weapons?"

It's not a good idea, it's a _fabulous_ idea. If she'd actually taken a shot at him, he'd have shot her with a paint-bullet, the kind that turns the skin it hits neon green maybe.

"A mafia boss needs self-control," he answers her. And smirks. To her credit, she doesn't back away, though there's a tiny shudder going through her body. "I believe I told you to sleep," he says darkly.

She straightens stubbornly. Yeah, there's fear in her eyes, but she doesn't let it control her - good. Though it deprives him of some entertainment. "You did," she agrees. "And I tried. But then it occured to me that I wasn't going to get any sleep when I'm unarmed in a place just recently raided where I was already assaulted. Then those two idiots came into my room to do god knows what, and I figured I'd get myself some weapons so I wouldn't be forced to disobey your orders of getting sleep."

"Hmph," Reborn snorts, swings, and lands perfectly on her shoulder. She stands perfectly still save for a tiny swallow. "You call that low-quality junk weapons?"

"If it kills it's a weapon," she answers.

Good answer, actually, not that he'd tell her that.

"And what will you do with your _weapons_ now?" he asks mockingly.

She starts walking, out of the armoury and down a corridor. "Now I'm going to find a shooting range because walking around with an unfamiliar gun I've never used before is just fucking stupid."

He shoots a rubber pellet at her. "Language! A lady mustn't curse!"

She curses.

He shoots her again.

"Reborn," she snaps. "If anyone doesn't like how I talk they can _suck it_ because I'm not going to change the way I speak to suit the whims and rules people made to keep others small. So shoot me or whatever, but no one gets to tell me who I need to be. Also, it's sexist to say women aren't allowed to curse."

He shoots her again on principle before letting Leon change back into chameleon form. "Fine," he says. Then he pulls at her hair. "That way."

In truth, he isn't angry. Unlike Dino (before Reborn started training him) Rosabella has a backbone, and independence isn't a bad thing. The problem is _too much_ independence, because it isn't that far off from indifference.

He has to walk a fine line here. Be too strict, too harsh, and he'd crush her character. Let her keep the language, and she'd aassociate him with 'understanding'. He needs her to trust him.

"What do the feathers mean?" he asks out of the blue, startling her.

"They were a gift," she says tightly.

"From Xanxus?"

"Who else," Rosabella mutters uncomfortably. "Anyway, where to next?"

Reborn pulls at her hair again.

"Careful," she snaps. "I happen to like my hair!"

Reborn happens to like it, too. Long, soft, and in wild curls. Which is why he isn't pulling as hard as he could.

Also, women could be terrifying when their hair is messed with.

"Shut up," he chirps to her, making her sigh in annoyance.

"This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship, I just _know_ it," she mutters sarcastically.

"Optimism is a good quality to have," Reborn replies cheerfully.

"It was sarcasm, actually," she snarks, and _oh_ , Reborn was going to have so much _fun_ with this one.

"The lowest form of wit, sarcasm," he comments.

"An excellent coping mechanism, though," she returns without missing a beat.

"You are surprisingly chipper considering your situation," Reborn remarks pleasantly.

"I'm doing something right if you really believe that."

"I don't."

"Damn."

He tugs at her hair. "Language," he reminds her. "Next turn left."

"Yes, yes," she drawls blandly. "Whatever you say, your majesty."

"It is good that you understand your station, peasant," Reborn replies smugly, but he doesn't miss the wince his response elicits.

They arrive at a shooting range. Currently unused, not surprising considering how busy everyone is dealing with the aftermath of the Cradle Affair, as it's now called.

Rosabella wastes no time in tying her hair back and loading the gun before she starts shooting at the targets. The first few shots go wide, the girl unused to the gun. But once she starts hitting the targets, she keeps doing so. Her movements are precise and efficient, whoever taught her before did a good enough job.

Reborn offers her a few corrections on her stance and aim before he takes aim himself. At her, not the targets. "Hit every target ten times," he orders, smirking sinisterly. "If you pass out before that..." His smirk widens and he lets her stew for a moment. "Then something fun will happen!"

Would tossing her into a lion den be as much fun to watch as he thinks? Probably!

He knows exactly how many bullets she still has. And it's not enough to hit all targets ten times. She's five bullets short.

Her face is _ridiculously_ funny when she realises that fact in the middle of evading bullets from him. "I don't think so!" she shouts at him. And hurls a bunch of daggers and knives at the last target right before he nails her in the forehead and knocks her clean out.

Well, damn. He didn't specify she had to use the guns to hit the targets.

He'll just toss her into a lion den at a later date.

―~~―~~―

Three days into his new job and Reborn is fed up with the Iron Fort. And with Rosabella, though this is not really her fault - well, indirectly it is, but she can't help having been born such an overwhelmingly strong Sky.

He's had to shoot five people so far who wanted to force Harmony with her. And not just stupid grunts, but people who'd been in Vongola's service for years and should know _better_. Should be _decent_ enough to not force what equates to a bond between _souls_ on a girl barely ten years old.

Frankly, he's surprised she doesn't have guardians yet. It's _instinct_ for Skies to reach out to others. And Rosabella could have pretty much anyone she wanted - maybe even _him_. It doesn't fit. He'd thought Xanxus would have wanted to outfit her with strong subordinates. It's even more surprising Xanxus hasn't turned her into a weapon for himself.

Don't get him wrong, Reborn's glad he doesn't have to deal with that. As a matter of fact, Rosabella has so far been acceptable, even agreeable, personality-wise, though it's obvious she hasn't let him see who really she is, she's keeping him at a distance emotionally. Generally, she's harder to figure out than previous students. It rankles him that he doesn't know where he stands with her, but he knew going into the job that it wouldn't be that easy.

So far, he can confidently say that she lacks Xanxus' temper and cruelty which is an immense relief. Kindness is harder to teach than cruelty.

But he wonders. _Why_ doesn't she have guardians? Not even one? Because of the incident after her father's death? Had the damage done by her mother been so great? Yes, Rejection hurts - he'd know, he'd Rejected more than his fair share of ambitious Skies. But Rejection is more of a temporal pain for the Rejecting party. It's nothing like Discord which could affect a person for a lifetime.

Rosabella should be over something that happened when she was six.

But it's not like he can just ask her after barely two days of acquaintance. Well, he could, but he wouldn't get a satisfying answer. Probably not even a truthful if evasive one.

She's so very unlike Dino who Reborn could figure out with one glance. With Rosabella, he thinks he could spend a year with her and still not know just what makes her tick.

Reborn does enjoy a good challenge, however.

But he won't be able to answer this particular challenge at the Iron Fort, where there are so many eyes watching at every moment, where the walls have ears, where Timoteo asks him for reports on his newest student at least twice a day and for advice unrelated to her even more. And then there's Iemitsu's little spies - unassuming men and women hurrying through the corridors with papers in their hands, looking for all the world like they are just _coincidentally_ passing by, except it's the same person every single time in a different disguise.

"So what spice name do you think that one has?" Rosabella asks flatly the seventh time. "I was thinking Catnip."

"So you noticed," Reborn remarks, only faintly surprised. He has a feeling she sees more than she lets on ninety percent of the time. "Horseradish." (And is he the only one who thinks food-related codenames are lame?)

She snorts. "Good one. And she wears the same perfume every single time. Sloppy."

"Beginner's mistake," Reborn agrees. Rosabella suddenly stops, tilts her head, and then ducks down behind a statue in another corridor.

"And here comes another one," she drawls flatly. A moment later, a man hurries down the corridor where they'd just been, looking around in confusion and slight panic at their sudden disappearance. "That's one of Nonno's, I'm guessing. Didn't even try for subtlety."

"Probably acting outside orders," Reborn comments.

"Wanting to shake my hand and 'express sympathies' again?" she airquotes. "Like I'm so easy to trick into Harmony."

"You knew he was coming."

"I got Bullshit Intuition," she answers distractedly. "Hyper Intuition, pardon my French."

Reborn snorts.

Something he appreciates about Rosabella, she can actually hold a conversation with him. Now if he could get a real reaction instead of sarcastic quips and observations, that'd be great.

"Hey Reborn," she begins cautiously. "Don't you think Nonno could order them to stop trying?"

"What are you suggesting, Thorny-Rosa?" he asks. Actually, he has a pretty good idea. He's a bit surprised that she'd ask him for his opinion. Or even reveal that she _knows_.

Maybe she's playing a game with him, too. Offer an observation, ask for his opinion on a delicate matter. Make him think she trusts him.

"I'm suggesting that he definitely _could_ , but isn't doing it for some _unfathomable_ reason," she answers his question, scowling. "I knew that guy. He's one of Schnitten Brabanter's - and am I the only one who thinks food-related codenames are lame? - captains."

"You're not the only one and if you name your guardians after food, I will shoot you for the lameness," Reborn answers her. "As for your question - a number of people would like to see you settled with respectable guardians."

"Fuck that noise," she growls. "God, I'm so sick of this!"

So is Reborn. "We're leaving here tonight."

She looks up in honest surprise. "We are? Really?"

"Well, I have to tell them first," he answers glibly. "I'm sure they will object."

Which he would ignore.

"I'll go pack then," she answers, guessing just that.

He turns to leave. "You do that. And remember, a mafia lady breaks the kneecaps of anyone trying to force her into anything."

"I knew that already," she quips. And then, softer, adds, "Thank you, Reborn."

He pulls the fedora down to hide his pleased grin.

Progress. Maybe.

―~~―~~―

Two minutes into the meeting with Timoteo and Iemitsu - and damn that man's timing, coming in just as Reborn was about to get what he wants - and Reborn finds himself appreciating Rosabella's backbone more than ever.

Honestly, he respects Timoteo, he does. But the man hems and haws way too much for Reborn's tastes. Takes ages getting to the point.

And don't get him started on idiot-Iemitsu's blustering. The only times he can barely tolerate the man is during crisis where he's actually serious. Vongola's Young Lion is supposedly brilliant in the field, but since they never meet on the field, well, Reborn can't respect him. Besides, stringing his wife along for years and all but ignoring his kid makes him a coward in Reborn's eyes. Yeah, he gets it's for their safety, that they have to be kept secret. It's still not right.

"Rosa needs to be kept under observation!" Iemitsu says loudly, towering over Reborn like that would actually do anything to intimidate him. "She absolutely cannot leave."

Timoteo sighs. "Iemitsu is right, Reborn. It's safer here. Federico's murderers are still out there."

Right. Safer in the mansion that just got invaded with a third of security killed, sure. Like anyone would even _touch_ her with Reborn at her side.

"Not to mention we need to know just how much damage Xanxus did! Poor sweet Rosa, corrupted by that brute!" Iemitsu shakes his head.

Poor sweet Rosa indeed. She's probably singing songs of joy at the prospect of getting out of here.

"Iemitsu, Xanxus is still my son," Timoteo chastises. "In any case, Reborn, I think we should wait before letting her outside of Vongola's territory, at least until she has guardians."

And there's the crux of the matter, now.

"Are you saying," Reborn says darkly. "That you do not trust me to protect Rosabella?"

"Of course not," Timoteo paddles back immediately. Reborn can't help but think that his granddaughter would have stood her ground. Then again, if his granddaughter were boss, he doubts this would have been an issue in the first place. She does seem to abhor manipulation. "But Rosabella has no guardians and that means she's vulnerable right now. Especially after losing Xanxus, she must be quite upset and will be seeking comfort. I have no doubts that our enemies will try to make use of that weakness..."

Weakness? Is he blind? The girl can go into Dying Will Mode without any help. That is not something a _weak_ person could do. It takes _resolve_.

Reborn is fresh out of patience.

"I wasn't asking for permission. We will be departing tonight."

And he disappears in a cloud of smoke.

―~~―~~―

The driver Reborn _convinced_ to give them a ride is visibly relieved to leave them in front of a rather luxurious safe house.

"So this is where we will be staying?" Rosabella asks him.

"No." She looks at him, surprised, and face-faults at his hiker-costume (complete with hiking stick and fake beard, it's _awesome_.) "We're going on a hike!"

"Where the hell did that costume come from?" she deadpans. "Nevermind, I don't want to know."

She picks up her luggage - consisting of only a large backpack and a violin case that apparently had been retrieved for her. Reborn hadn't known she played.

"Which direction?" she asks listlessly.

Reborn points to a nearby mountain. Northern Italy has a lot of them.

"Are you serious?" Rosabella groans. "There's not even a path!"

He slaps her shins with his hiking stick. "Mafia ladies don't complain!"

"Then I'm not a Mafia lady! And don't look so fucking happy! And what're you doing on my shoulder, I'm not carrying you when you're dressed for hiking and- where did your clothes go!"

"Be one with nature, Thorny-Rosa!"

Yup.

Reborn would totally enjoy this.

―~~―~~―

Rosa has a plan.

It's not a very good plan. It might even be a bad plan.

But it's all she has. Something to cling to while she's stuck in this nightmare.

It goes something like this.

1\. Survive Reborn's training and general jackassery.

2\. Become Vongola Decima.

3\. Bring Xanxus back.

4\. Make Xanxus heir.

5\. Retire a day later.

Currently Rosa's thinking she might as well change the plan and become a serial killer or something. Reborn is _that_ annoying.

"For the last fucking time! Don't shoot at me while I'm climbing a goddamn mountain! What are you going to do if I break my neck and die, huh?"

"I'm a hitman."

"Godfuckingdamnit."

She has a feeling it'll get worse before it gets better.

It has to get better someday, right?

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me before writing the chapter: "I want Rosa and Reborn to have a meaningful and friendly relationship!"
> 
> Reborn: *manipulative little shitshow*
> 
> Rosa: *snark and sarcasm*
> 
> Me, 3K words later: "...Well, close enough."


	7. Devilbaby Shenanigans

 

Rosa sleeps surprisingly well that night. Or maybe not _that_ surprising after she climbed a mountain. And fell off, which led to Reborn shooting her with a Dying Will Bullet.

And _of course_ her clothing hadn't been the Flame resistant sort. Which meant it all (except for her underwear, and wasn't that a fun thought, Reborn going through her clothes and replacing her underwear with Flame resistant duplicates) exploded off her when she went into Dying Will Mode, and hadn't that been embarrassing when she snapped out of it. God, she's going to kill Reborn.

She wakes up early. Unwilling to stay in bed and stew in her misery she gets up. First she explores the house. It's an isolated two-story building halfway up the mountain, with enough room to house ten people, probably so her future guardians can live here too.

And wonders of all wonders, it's perfectly accessible by car from the other side. It was _entirely_ unnecessary to have her climb the mountain. She's going to _kill_ Reborn. After breakfast.

The fridge is fully stocked and the kitchen is well equipped. Not having anything better to do, Rosa sets to making breakfast and making preparations for lunch while she's at it. She needs to find out Reborn's least favourite food so she can make it often, she decides.

"You can cook."

Rosa does not squeak when she opens a cupboard and finds Reborn in a sausage costume inside. She does _not_.

"I'm going to throw you into the frying pan," she says blandly. "And I'm never ever eating sausage ever again. _Ever_."

"Make me an espresso," he orders.

She eyes the high-end espresso machine dubiously. "Nope, not touching that. It looks so futuristic it probably has a self-destruction button somewhere. On second thought..." She approaches the thing.

"If you destroy the machine, your training is going to be _unpleasant_ ," Reborn threatens. Rosa isn't even surprised that he's back to wearing suit and fedora now even though she only took her eyes off him for a second.

Rosa rolls her eyes. "Chill. I got this. Hey, what does Leon eat?" she asks as she sets to making espresso.

She knows from experience with that animal familiars can be _peculiar_ in their eating habits. Mammon/Viper's Fantasma only drinks well-aged wine. Her beautiful Hedwig was partial to bacon.

"He likes cornflakes."

Rosa nods and gets out a small bowl. In the pantry she finds three different kinds of cornflakes she grabs them all and places them before the chameleon. "Which one?" she asks. Leon's tongue hits the carton to the left. "Got it."

"Consideration for animals is a good quality for a Mafia boss," Reborn remarks.

"I can sleep easy now," she deadpans.

"Where did you learn to cook, Thorny-Rosa?"

Again with that name.

"Places," she answers.

"Did you, now."

"Yep."

She'd learned when she was Harry in her previous life, and in this one she used to help Lussuria - a pang in her heart makes her fingers falter for a tiny moment - in the kitchen a lot.

"I want to know."

"I want you to go insane with curiosity." She pours him his espresso. "There. Enjoy, don't enjoy, I don't care."

He takes a sip. "Bah. Too weak."

"So  make it yourself next time." Rosa rolls her eyes and sets the table.

It's just her and the goddamn baby. She misses the loud meals of the Varia mansion. Bel used to be her ally in the food fights, his aim deadly accurate.

This, the kitchen table set for just her and Reborn - it's just sad.

"Stop making that face," Reborn orders. "And make me a better espresso."

She ignores him and pours Leon's cornflakes into his bowl. "With milk?" she asks. Leon nods. His tongue hits her hand affectionately.

When she kills Reborn, she's going to keep Leon, she decides. He's cute.

"So where did you learn to cook?"

"Why, Reborn," she drawls. "I spent four years as the Varia's cleaning lady, treated like the lowest of slaves!" She gasps and claps her hands. "What a fairy-tale development, to think I'm the princess of Vongola!"

He throws a small tomato at her. "Shut it, Cinderella."

Rosa snorts, her hand snatches the tomato from the air. "Oh please. I have better tastes in shoes. Glass shoes, ridiculous. What if she walks into something? She'll get shards into all the wounds. Not to mention the wounds themselves. Who wears shoes that cause wounds? Cinderella should really question if her fairy godmother really had her wellbeing in mind when giving them to her."

Which prompts thoughts of Rosa's own fairy godmother, namely Xanxus, and damn. It hurts.

"Do you dislike fairy tales?" Reborn asks, sipping his too-weak espresso with an expression of mild disgust.

Rosa shrugs. "Depends on the tale."

Her life as Harry had been a fairy tale. Crappy childhood, dead parents - practically a fairy tale requirement - and near-slavery. And then the fairy godmother Hagrid came along and whisked her away from there, and after harrowing adventures came the happy end. Except when Harry put on the glass slippers, she stubbed her toes and cut up her feet, and then got smashed by a dragon. Crappy instead of happy ending, that was just Harry's luck.

Turns out Rosa's isn't that much better.

"Which one do you like?" asks Reborn.

"Are you psychoanalysing me?" Rosa raises an eyebrow. "In that case, I like Snow White because I just adore how she runs away right into the forest where she happily lives with seven strangers until she takes food from a suspicious old lady and keels over until another stranger kisses her. Also a personal favorite is Sleeping Beauty who is even less useful, which is quite an accomplishment."

"And really?" Reborn insists.

Rosa rolls her eyes. "Tatterhood. Battles trolls, kicks ass, takes care of her family. Doesn't need some prince. Could be beautiful but chooses not to be until the end."

"Hm."

"That was the most ominous hm I've ever heard."

"Hm."

"Speaking of ominous, what's the plan for today? Because I need to go shopping. I don't have that many changes of clothes with me, and if you insist on shooting me again..."

"Hm."

"Great talk, Reborn, thanks."

"Hm."

"I'll just clean up here."

"Hm."

"Hey Leon, want seconds?"

"Hm."

"Since when is your name Leon?"

"Hm."

"Come on, help me do the dishes."

"Nope."

"God, I hate you."

"The name's Reborn, but god works, too."

Rosa groans and contemplates if attacking Reborn with a frying pan is worth the subsequent punishment.

 

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

The first week passes with Reborn trying to feel Rosa out and Rosa trying to prevent him from doing so.

While Reborn seems to get obnoxiously happier with every day, for Rosa the entire thing is nerve-wracking. Because for her plan to work, the less Varia she is the better. Problem with that is, she _is_ Varia from head to toe and it's not easy to conceal.

She doesn't trust the baby _at all_. Sure, his training is good, great even. But she can't forget that Reborn's loyalty is to Vongola first and foremost, while Rosa's is to Varia who happen to be thought of as traitors. She still isn't sure what to think about _that_. But without phone or computer, she has no way to contact any of them to find out the truth. And Reborn probably has orders to prevent her from trying it anyway.

The only thing she has to remind her of them is the ring Xanxus gave her and the feathers in her hair. Everything else has been taken away. It's like everyone wants to convince her she was never with the Varia at all. It's just a lucky break that they overlooked the ring and ignored the feathers.

She'd added a red feather to her white ones. Red like the ones Xanxus wears. Just another reminder.

God, it had been just barely more than a _week_. What is she going to _do_?

"Ugh," she groans, turning her head just before Reborn jumps on it. "I'm awake, dammit."

"Hurry up or you'll be late for school!" Reborn chirps.

Rosa shoots up from her bed. "School?!" she yells. "What school?" Then she looks out the window. "The sun's barely up. What school starts that early?"

Reborn beams at her. "The school of life!"

"...I really hate you."

"I know!" His eyes gleam. "Hurry up and make breakfast!"

She throws a pillow at him and jumps out of the window. Where there's a net that catches her. Damn it.

"I knew you would try that," Reborn's unholy voice says smugly.

"At the risk of repeating myself, I really really hate you." Rosa's hands flare and the net burns up. "Take that," she mutters as she smoothly lands on the soft grass and then immediately jumps through a window into the kitchen when said grass opens up beneath her. "A pitfall, really."

And damn it, now she's in the kitchen, she might as well make breakfast for the little menace.

But first, change out of her sleepwear. Which really isn't too different from her normal wear except for the fact she wears it to sleep. Because some assholes likes waking peacefully sleeping people up with a giant mallet and chase them out of the house to catch fish with her bare hands in the middle of the night. True story.

Thankfully Rosa had the good sense to hide stashes of clothing all over the house and grounds after the first two times Reborn shot her with the Dying Will Bullet, of which she now locates one to quickly change into.

"I want omelet," Reborn's infernally smug voice says right before he lands on her head. "And espresso."

"So make yourself some," she mutters mutinously. "Damn freeloading devilbaby."

"What was that, Thorny-Rosa?" he asks threateningly.

"I suggested you provide yourself with your own bloody breakfast," Rosa answers. "And I called you a damn freeloading devilbaby."

"I will shoot you," Reborn promises happily. Then his stomach growls. "Later."

Rosa pours cornflakes and milk for Leon and makes herself a sandwich. "You do that."

"Make me an omelet," Reborn whines.

"I don't see why I should provide you with food when you're going to shoot me later," Rosa answers mercilessly.

"I shoot better when I'm not hungry."

"You poor baby."

Reborn hops off her head. Now he's wearing a homeless-kid costume, complete with trembling lips and teary eyes.

"Nope," says Rosa. "No food for freeloaders."

Reborn sniffs. "A Mafia boss must be kind to infants."

"And wary of hitmen," she retorts, smugly taking a bite of her sandwich.

Reborns stomach growls again. His eyes look so, so sad.

And damn it, Rosa suddenly remembers what it was like to go hungry at Privet Drive, and how awful it felt to watch others eat the food she made, leaving her only with scraps.

"I'm a fucking pussy," she mutters. "Fine." She glares at Reborn. " _We_ will make an omelet. That means you fucking _help_ , got it?"

Reborn's eyes get larger and sadder.

"That's creepy, stop it." She sighs in aggravation. "And that was my final offer. Take it or leave it."

"I will shoot you twice."

"Here, you can chop the vegetables."

Reborn looks decidedly miserable as he does as she says.

The omelet does taste pretty good though in the end.

Reborn shoots her a few times which is less good but she still counts it as a win.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa's tutor chases her down the mountain at gunpoint. Leon has turned into a skateboard which gives the damn devilbaby a vastly unfair advantage, especially considering how she's been forced to wear a school uniform with highly uncomfortable shoes that were definitely not made for running. Having to wear a skirt does not help either. Actually, the entire uniform is uncomfortable - dress shoes, white stockings, navy pencil skirt, white shirt, constricting tie, an even more constricting blazer, and to top it off she's apparently required to wear her hair in a tight ponytail, though at least she didn't have to remove the feathers.

She utterly hates this uniform. And Lussuria would be frothing at the mouth if he knew what she'd been forced to wear. Bel would laugh his ass off. Levi would frown in disapproval. Squalo would yell at her to get changed. Xanxus would just glare at the offending pieces of clothing until they went up in Flames.

(Don't think about them. Keep going.)

"What school am I going to anyway!?" she shouts at Reborn. "And if you say the School of Life, you can make your food yourself for the rest of the year!"

"A surprise school!" Reborn answers blithely. "A fun school!"

Rosa groans and saves her energy for running. It takes about half an hour for them to arrive at the school. It looks like a prison right in the middle of the lovely Italian countryside. She reads the script above the entrance.

"I do not appreciate the irony," she comments finally.

"Irony?" Reborn asks.

"St. Brutus Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Girls," she sounds out. "Are you serious?"

"Always and forever, Thorny-Rosa!" Reborn twirls and in the blink of an eye wears a granny costume. "From now on I am your grandmother Reborella!"

"That is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start." Rosa facepalms. "This is going to be the rest of my life now, isn't it..."

"Come now, my naughty granddaughter, off to your new school we go!" Leon changes into a walking stick and 'Reborella' shuffles through the gates.

"I swear to god, one day I'll kill you," Rosa mutters under her breath as she follows. "This is so incredibly ridiculous. I thought Vernon made this place up. Why does an Italian school have an English name anyway... fucking Potter luck."

"What was that?" asks Reborn.

"What am I even getting imprisoned for?" she snaps at him.

"Arson!" _Reborella_ gives her a big creepy smile that should never belong on any granny's face. "You burned your previous school down!"

"...please tell me you didn't burn a school down to provide me with a cover story."

Reborn pulls his fedora down, the shade hiding his face mysteriously, his mouth revealing the hint of a pleased smirk.

Rosa decides it's better not to pursue that line of thought any further.

"Do I get a cover name?" she asks instead. "Preferably something that doesn't make me sound like a complete loser?"

Her tutor beams at her. "You are now Rosa Bella!"

"Lame," she groans. "So lame."

Reborn kicks her in the stomach. "It is a witty and beautiful name!"

"You're getting weird with age, granny," Rosa wheezes out. It earns her another kick. Someone else would have probably learned to shut up by now, but in the Varia, she'd get in trouble if she _didn't_ talk back and that stuck with her. Also, talking back makes her feel like she still has _some_ semblance of control over her shitty life.

She isn't even allowed a phone.

...maybe there'd be a computer somewhere in this depressing-as-shit prison school? But no. Reborn would be watching her every move. And she doesn't feel like revealing her skills in hacking to him and Vongola by extension this soon, if they don't already know. Who knew what that traitor-scum Ottabio had told them about her. She _hopes_ that the man had been territorial over her (and wasn't that a happy thought) and thus kept information about her close to his chest. That she's merely being kept away from any communication device to prevent contact with the Varia members.

The control she's subjected to _chafes_ , and there's nothing she can do against it. Not if she wants to keep to her plan.

They enter the school. There's a metal detector. She gets searched for weapons. Now she knows why Reborn made her drop her guns before they left the house.

But she keeps her kubotans. They're disguised as pencils and the troll-like security guard just overlooks them.

They are then led to the headmistress' office where Rosa is subjected to barely veiled threats, _Reborella's_ sob story about how her darling granddaughter has strayed from the right path, more threats, a harshly delivered laydown of the school rules, and more threats.

Apparently, her alleged crime of burning down her previous school makes her vastly unpopular with the teachers and security here.

At least she gets her own room. From what she's surmised, St. Brutus isn't just a prison school for girls, it's a prison school for girls with loaded parents. Which means that the prisoners/students aren't required to share rooms, they all get their own cells, complete with bars in front of the windows and doors that allow the wardens/teachers to look into said cells at any given time. It disgusts her on every level.

Rosa's cell contains a narrow bed, a bulky desk, and a cupboard without doors, meaning hiding anything in there would be difficult. Luggage had apparently already been delivered, there's a suitcase and schoolbag waiting for her. Rosa gets pretty much shoved into her cell, told to unpack, and informed that she's expected in the cafeteria for dinner at six pm sharp.

By the end of it she's just. So _fucking_ fed up.

Her suitcase contains a few more awful uniforms, a few old-fashioned skirts because that's the only thing the school's dresscode allows for, a few blouses, more ugly shoes, and that's pretty much it. The schoolbag contains textbooks, writing utensils, and notebooks. She wants to throw it all at the nearest person.

"You could have just sent me to Mafia School, you little bastard," she mutters caustically, because she'll be damned if Reborn isn't watching her from somewhere or hasn't installed microphones in her room.

"An unattached Sky? At Mafia School?" Sure enough, a panel disguised as a piece of wall swings open, revealing a small hideout containing a cozy little living room in which Reborn sits drinking coffee and Rosa wants to _kill him_.

She glares at him. "Better than _prison_."

Reborn's eyes gleam. "A Mafia boss doesn't complain."

"This isn't me complaining," Rosa shoots back. "I wouldn't address my complaints to _you_ , devilbaby. My complaints about the school will go straight to the school since you don't give a flying fuck about my feelings. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to burn this building down depending on how much I dislike it. Since I apparently have a history of setting previously visited institutions of learning on fire."

"Will you really?" Reborn asks curiously.

"Have you forgotten who raised me since my father was killed?" Rosa answers caustically. "You always seem to expect me to burn shit down at the first sign of anger. How does me wanting to burn a prison down surprise you?"

Reborn blinks. "You haven't burned anything down since becoming my student."

"Don't sound so surprised now," she snipes at him. "My feelings might get hurt. Oh right. You don't _care_."

"How did Xanxus really raise you?" Reborn asks. "What did he teach you?"

"Why am I even talking to you? You put me into _prison_." Rosa shakes her head. "Whatever."

"You're not going to answer, Thorny-Rosa?" Reborn stares at her blankly in a way that makes her feel like a lab rat examined by a scientist.

Rosa glares at him.

She's just so sick and tired of it all.

"Everything I do has a purpose," Reborn bullshits. "It's all part of your training to be Vongola Decima."

"Oh really, and here I was assuming ninety-five percent of your bullshit is for your entertainment." A bell rings, which tells her it's time for dinner. She gives Reborn a thin smile. "Something you should know about me in order to avoid further fuck-ups, which is what this whole thing is, a giant fucking fuck-up. You know how Sky Flames have leanings toward other Flames? Like Iemitsu has this Sun tendency that gets on everybody's last nerve, Timoteo is kinda Rainy and can on occasion put you to sleep by talking, and Xanxus has some serious Storm going on? I've got something like that too. A recent stress-induced development." She kicks open her door and give Reborn one last glare. "My Flames lean towards Cloud. And you _put me in prison_."

Reborn stills. Blinks. "Oops," he says.

She slams the door behind her.

Fuck it. Fuck playing nice. Yeah, there was her plan to consider, her plan of becoming Decima quickly and bringing Xanxus back which involved being whatever Reborn wants her to be.

But letting him run her life was killing her and she _couldn't_ do it.

Goddammit, she's _ten_ _years_ old. And they'd put her into _prison_ when she'd done _nothing_ to deserve it.

That's where she draws the fucking line.

If they wanted to see the Xanxus in her - she'd show them.

They'd pushed too fucking far and something was going to burn.

 

 

 


	8. Security Nightmares

All Rosa has to do to find the cafeteria is to follow the other uniforms.

A part of her wants nothing more than to burn everything to ashes. To lay waste to everything and everyone. Just scream her anger out at the world and make them _hurt_ like she's hurting.

_"You aren't a fucking animal, brat. The wrath doesn't control you, you control it. Make it fucking work for you. And then pay that scum back millionfold."_

Xanxus trained her to control herself after the shit with Federico went down. Or rather, he taught her to _channel_ the anger.

Fat lot of good that did him considering he's exiled and probably doing community service in some Third World country to teach him a lesson or some shit. But that's not the point. The point is, she _isn't_ going to burn the school down, no matter how much she wants to.

But she _would_ take it over. Then it wouldn't be her prison anymore, it would be her _kingdom_.

Her hand reaches up to free her hair. Might as well start with breaking the dress code. Also, the tight ponytail gives her a headache, and no doubt strands had already escaped, and not in a decorative way.

Rosa's hair is the only thing she's a bit shallow about. It's mainly because Papa used to praise it a lot, and people generally give her compliments about it. Plus, as Harry she never got to grow out her hair - Petunia cut it whenever it approached a nice length.

She's thinking about Harry an awful lot these days. Her old self would probably be exactly what her grandfather wants in a successor - nice, naïve, eager to please, easy to influence. Of those three things, only one applies to Rosa, and only on a good day.

Maybe she should channel her old self to get everyone off her back. Then again... why should _she_ be the one to change? She _likes_ who she is _now_.

The ugly and uncomfortable shoes join the hair ties on the floor, Rosa stalks along on her bare feet, because fuck the shoes, fuck this school, fuck everything. St. Brutus is trash, Timoteo is trash, Reborn is trash, (Xanxus is trash, too) and she's going to do this shit _her_ way.

It isn't like Vongola has another heir tucked away in some corner. She's the only one left. Eventually, she _would_ be Decima. The only question is how long it would take. And guardians - would she be eventually forced to accept guardians prescribed by Vongola's upper echelons? Would there be an arranged marriage in the cards for her so that she'd only be the figurehead leader of Vongola, some other moron calling the shots?

She doesn't think Timoteo would go that far. But she also knows he won't pick her over the rest of the Famiglia.

Of course she likes to think she'd rebel in that case. The thing is, though, it’s Vongola. Her _Family_. She’d been raised to love it, Papa had loved it and so had Xanxus. Her bedtime stories had been about previous bosses, their heroic deeds. And yeah, it isn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but that’s something she’s only realised recently. The Family still _matters_ to her, she would do a lot for its benefit.

And even if she weren’t willing… she has an idea of just how _powerful_ the Family is. They _would_ find something to hold over her head if she didn't go along with their plans. There are _always_ ways to force compliance, and this was the Mafia, with Flames, illusions, murder and blackmail being daily occurrences. _She's_ just one person with a really shitty lot in life.

Nothing she could do about that. For now, anyway.

She enters the cafeteria. It's full of, it cannot be described in any other way, _trolls_. Female trolls in uniforms. It's like every person here is a variation of Crabbe and Goyle crossdressing. There is the scattered weedy Malfoy type somewhere, but overall it's just personifications of the word _nasty_. Girls of all ages sit at the tables, in varying stages of bad mood. Tattoos, shaved hair, piercings, atrocious makeup, most of it barely within the limits of the dress code, but more notable is the way they hold themselves - like they’re ready to hurt someone at the drop of a hat, eyes glinting with malice.

Rosa scans the crowd - there's the oldest, largest, meanest looking supposed female lording over her court of not-quite-but-close-to as mean-looking followers consisting of mostly dumb muscle and an advisor-type. There's a table of teacher’s pets, the ones that'll rat anyone out and work hard to get privileges. And then there's the outcast tables in the corners - the bullied, the nerdy, the rebels. And in between the sea of mindless follower-sheep of all ages from ten to eighteen.

Yeah, Rosa is aware she's stereotyping - but between groups of people, there's a hierarchy, and that's what she needs to know about right now. Observations on individuals can follow later.

_You're Vongola. You walk into a room, you better fucking own it. You're better than that trash._

Heads turn as she walks past. Some - the boring ones - look away quickly. The more noteworthy stare after her, her long hair and bare feet, blatantly breaking dress code and not giving a shit.

Then there are the ones who _study_ her, assess her, gauge her level of danger. The ones that don't just think, _oh wow she's so dumb I wonder how long it'll take until they break her_ and _this'll be a good show_. They see her and _know_ that she's not a victim in this place. (She'll be the queen.)

Either they are too stupefied by her blatant disregard of rules or they just want to lean back and enjoy the show, but nobody stops her as she brazenly walks up and grabs food for herself.

The trouble starts only starts after she's sat down. She'd chosen a yet unoccupied table - one, to see who'd approach her on their own and two, it would be unwise to imply a choice of alliance so soon. Not that she'd actually need to be allied with any group in a place like this. There's hardly any Quality in this school. Prison. Whatever.

A troll approaches. From the fact that she is wearing the spectacularly unflattering school uniform, Rosa guesses it's a student. Probably sent by someone, holds herself like a follower.

Rosa leans back, raises a perfectly calculated eyebrow, spins a plastic spork in her hand intimidatingly - apparently they're afraid of fork-stabbings here.

The subtleties of her posture and body language are entirely lost on Troll Girl. Shame, really, Rosa had worked hard to learn that shit.

Troll Girl seems to have learnt her own intimidation skills from bad fantasy movies, all she's missing is a loincloth and a club to look like a real troll. And a minor change in skin-colour.

Rosa pinches the bridge of her nose. She absolutely can't take this seriously. It's too ridiculous to even deal with. "Mio dio, you are a _disaster._ "

"Err... What?" Troll Girl asks dumbly.

"First of all, people that Intimidatingly Cross Their Arms And Scowl _never_ win." Rosa gives Troll Girl a Look. "They will always lose to the witty hero." She takes a sip from her plastic cup like it's a champagne glass filled with something expensive instead of sugary orange joice. "Lose the scowl. What is this, a bad nineties comedy? Villains nowadays never show emotion."

"...Like this?"

"That's better. Less tension in your legs, you look like you're in need of a toilet." Rosa scans her with a critical gaze. "Shoulders back, you're not a hunchback. Be proud of who you are. Do something else with your hands - play with a pen or something, make it look like you could stab someone with it. There. That's better. Piece of advice? Go lighter on the make-up in the future. Less is more in your case."

"But Agate said I look hot like this."

"Honey, that's way too much blush, you currently look like a lobster. What you need is just a tiny bit of blush over your cheekbones, it will do wonders to enhance your facial structure." Rosa shakes her head. "No blood red lipstick, just some pink gloss for your lips. Cat-eyes don't work for you either."

"I always thought so!" Troll Girl sits down at Rosa's table. "But Agate says my face is awful and I should paint it over!"

Rosa shakes her head. "And this 'Agate' would be the fashion disaster with the green bow in her hair at the centre table?" Horrible strategic location for a food fight, really. Sitting with the back to the wall is the way to go. Sitting with the back to an ally is even better, because throw a pie hard enough and it can actually break a wall. Thanks for that valuable lesson, Levi.

"Yeah." Troll Girl snickers. "Green bow, can you believe it?"

"I wouldn't if I weren't looking at her." Rosa takes another sip from her orange juice. "Your name?"

"Eloisa. You?"

"Rosa. Now, can you tell me if this... thing on my plate is actually edible?" Rosa pokes her plastic fork into her supposed 'Mashed Potatoes'. "They sure don't spend a lot of money on the kitchen, do they?"

"Nah." A tray clatters on the table, a spindly girl of maybe fifteen years throws herself into the seat. Glasses on her face, smooth hands - this one doesn't look to be a fighter. "Security gets it all. But you don't know that from me."

"Sit somewhere else, Nellie!" Troll Girl Eloisa snarls. Rosa lifts her hand. Eloisa backs down immediately.

"Do tell, _Nellie_." She wraps her tongue around the name like she's intrigued by this girl. In all honesty, she might be.

"Oh, I mustn't." Nellie smirks. "I'm not supposed to have been anywhere near a computer."

"So you're here for computer related crimes?" Rosa asks interestedly.

Because hell yes, if so, she's keeping this one. Computers are Rosa's sort of magic. She isn't admitting to anything, but she might have occasionally hacked the Varia System for fun.

"Nerd," Eloisa mutters under her breath. "I beat up my Stepfather!" she says proudly. "Thought he could hit my Mamma, he did! Sure showed him, I did! He ain't walking without crutches ever again!"

"Nice," Rosa nods. Two potential followers already, and it hasn't been an hour yet. Damn, Rosa is good.

"So what did you do?" Nellie fishes. "I mean... we don't usually get them so young. Except..." She points to a rather small person near the window, probably even younger than Rosa. Sits with a general 'fuck-off-posture', curled black hair tied in pigtails, bangs covering her eyes. Her lip is split, there's a bruise one her cheek. "Zara Rinaldi. No one knows what she did, but Security _hates_ her."

"O _ho_ ," Rosa murmurs, eyes on the Rinaldi girl. Who raises her head, and Rosa feels eyes hidden behind hair fixing on her.

Now there's a spark of Quality. Unhoned and concealed, but it's there.

"So what'd you do?" Eloisa asks curiously. Rosa gives her a Belphegor-grin.

"I burned my school down." She cracks her knuckles. "That was bloody fun."

Hey, she might as well milk Reborn’s stupid cover story.

Her companion's jaws drop. "Seriously?"

"I imagine Security won't be nice to me either."

"That's no joke!" Nellie exclaims, going pale just like Eloisa. "Security here is..."

"Dangerous?" Rosa guesses.

Nellie shakes her head. "They're running this school like their own personal kingdom. The teachers, the students, we're all just- well. You don't _ever_ want to get detention."

Rosa tilts her head. "There's only two Security officers currently in this room. So how controlling can they be?" Though the two armed women are given fearful looks and a wide berth by all students.

"They let us do what we like, as long as we do as we're told," Eloisa answers. "Agate gets away with everything because she's helping Security."

Nellie nods. "And then there are those who are... _picked_ on."

Zara Rinaldi's bruises and split lip make a whole lot more sense now.

"Don't worry." Rosa amps up her Sky charisma. " _I will handle it_."

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

To say Rosa is still angry at the whole shitty situation would be an understatement. She just has a good pokerface, and she's not about to prove anyone who believes her to be a murdering psychopath right. And there are _children_ here.

Her anger is like a raging storm, but it's contained within her, ready to be unleashed on the first suitable targets.

Surprisingly, no one had bothered her besides Nellie the hacker and Eloisa the troll. Both of whom Rosa had ditched with a lazy see-you-later, now on the way to her first lesson. Maths. Should be boring. She'd been taught by _Mammon_.

Reborn drops out of a ceiling panel, wearing a maintenance suit. "I see the school still stands, Thorny-Rosa."

Rosa ignores him. He shoots one of his rubber bullets at her. Does he have an infinite supply of them? Sure seems so.

Reborn swings after her spiderman-style, minus the costume. Now there's a birthday present idea. She could fill it with itching powder...

"You are thinking something respectless," Reborn decides and shoots her again. Rosa still ignores him, his annoying voice, and his stupid bullets. It seems like the best form of retaliation. Also, the only one she's capable of that won't just amuse him.

He'd put her in _prison_. No, that is not something she would just _forget_.

There's the classroom, just ahead. Now she just hopes there won't be a mysterious new baby-sized teacher... Nope. There's a nervous-looking, coffee-carrying guy heading in.

Wait, what's that harsh-sounding voice coming from a side-corridor?

"Oh my, what is that voice coming from a side-corridor?" asks Reborn, swinging in front of her face. "Whatever will you do?"

Ignore, ignore, ignore. Reborn, not the voice.

"Think you can just loiter, huh?" said voice snarls. "Think we don't know you're up to something, huh?!"

Somehow, Rosa is not surprised to see Zara Rinaldi when she turns the corner.

"You little bitch!" shouts the security troll above her, and pulls out a baton. A _metal_ baton. Pulls a weapon on a child, and _hell no_.

Wasn't this supposed to be a civilian school?

One of Zara Rinaldi's arms is held by the security person in a painful looking grip, the girl uses her free one to...

Ouch. Now that's some ruthless shit. It'd have been worse if Security Troll were male, but _damn_.

"You BITCH!" howls said Security Troll, and throws Zara into a wall. Screaming, " _I'm gonna bash your goddamn head in!_ " she raises the baton. Zara coughs dryly and throws herself forward to catch her assailant around the middle, the woman kicks her into the wall again.

Rosa lunges forward, jumps. Catches the baton just as it comes down, redirects it into the ground. The woman is suddenly off-balance, pulled slightly forward by her own weight, and Rosa's fingers dig into her shirt and pull until the bullying bitch falls forward completely. Rosa grabs her by her hair and cracks her forehead against the stone wall. Instant knockout.

Zara Rinaldi eyes are hidden behind her hair, but the hostile glare is easy to sense.

"Boy that felt _good_ ," Rosa states, rolling her shoulders. She casts a look around. There's a closet for cleaning supplies at the end of the corridor, perfect. "Hey, help me out here."

"With _what_ ," Zara snaps. "I had her, new girl."

Cloudy, Rosa thinks. Unrefined, but she'd do for her purposes.

"Hiding the body," Rosa replies. "She's too heavy to carry alone." A lie, but Rosa isn't supposed to use Flames here.

"Tch." Zara gets up, grabs one of Security Troll's arms, and together they drag her over to the closet. Rosa swipes the keys from the unconscious woman, unlocks the closet, and Zara performs a bit of creative pushing to get her to fit into it. After that, she stalks off, grabbing a bag from the floor where it must have fallen when she was attacked.

Charming girl, really.

"You should go after her, Thorny Rosa," Reborn advises. "A good Mafia boss never lets an asset slip away."

Oh, Rosa has no intention of letting Zara Rinaldi slip away. Hmm... there weren't that many girls Rosa’s age in this school. Chances are, Rosa and Zara would have classes together. Like the Maths Class right about to start.

With a smirk, Rosa heads for class.

A little violence does wonders for her temper.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa catches up to Zara Rinaldi at the door to the classroom. The girl throws her a glare that Rosa answers with a smile before they enter.

The nervous-looking teacher, thankfully not replaced with a Devilbaby, looks terrified at the sight of them together. The other students look away from Zara, looking scared as well. They barely notice Rosa, too distracted by the other girl. Which makes Rosa curious. Clearly Zara had done _something_.

Actually, considering how the girl had fought against Security... yeah, the weaker students would know better than to approach her. Too much trouble...

The Maths lesson is utterly boring. The guy - probably one of a handful of males in this stupid school - stutters, loses track of his own lessons, fumbles the chalk. And gets bitchy when Rosa sighs in annoyance for the fifth time.

"Signorina Bella, i-is there a p-problem?" he stutters snidely.

"Yeah," she says and stands up. "You're a sucky teacher. And you solved that wrong." She points at the blackboard. "Like, _really_ wrong. It's five, not hundred-forty-seven point six."

"And I s-suppose you can demonstrate why that is, Miss D-dresscode Breaker," he says snippily. "I think I will call S-s-security."

It's like he flipped a switch in the room. Instantly, most of the girls duck and shudder, throwing Rosa terrified looks. The exception being Zara who's just been staring out of the barred windows the entire lesson. Rosa frowns.

Perhaps Security is a bigger problem than she'd originally thought.

But not at the moment. Bitchy Teacher is just as scared as the girls. His threat is empty.

"Right," Rosa says and slams her palms on her desk as she stands up. The Teacher flinches at her glare. "Do it, I dare you."

He doesn't.

Rosa smirks and stalks toward him, predatory grin on her face, subtly leaking killing intent. The teacher backs up, sweat breaking out over his face. Rosa points at a desk. "Sit."

"W-w-w-what?" he squeaks.

" _Sit._ " He obeys, collapsing in the seat she indicated, shivering all over. Wuss.

"Right, ladies." She snags the sponge and wipes the whole lesson from the blackboard before grabbing the chalk herself. "Now _here_ is how you _really_ use the Pythagorean Theorem."

The things she has to do to fight boredom.

...okay, so maybe she can understand Reborn's shenanigans a little better now.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Nellie the Hacker waits outside the door after the Maths lesson. "Eloisa's vanished," she informs Rosa. "Neither her nor Agate and her minions showed up to their Art lesson."

Bullshit Intuition raises its head.

"And you know this how?" Rosa asks, raising an eyebrow.

"It's my _job_ to know things." Nellie casts a look around and lowers her voice. "We all do what we have to to survive in this place."

"I'm starting to think this school is run like a dictatorship," Rosa muses, beginning to walk since they're kind of blocking the door. "Would you tell me where I'll find Eloisa and the infamous Agate?"

Nellie shoots her a look as she falls into step beside her. Rosa's lips twitch as she notices a rather hostile presence following them in hearing distance.

"I'll tell you under two conditions," Nellie says. "One, you'll keep my name out of things. I'm getting looks just for associating with you. They haven't yet started asking me questions, but that's only a matter of time."

"Consider yourself under my protection for as long as I'll be at this sorry excuse for a school," Rosa answers.

"You do realise that you're, what, eleven and don't stand a chance against Security, no matter how creepy you are for a kid?" Nellie asks. Rosa snorts.

"I know I do. You'll see." She shrugs. "Whatever, I won't rat you out. Second condition?"

Nellie smirks. "Kick Agate's ass. Make sure she never ever bullies anyone again. Her or her clique."

"Got it."

"There's twenty of them, you know? And she's got informants everywhere," Nellie says with a raised eyebrow. "It's like, the school mafia, or something." She laughs, shaking her head. "I don't even know why I think you can change anything here."

Intuition again.

Rosa shrugs. "Because you've got good instincts, I suspect."

"Now that's a healthy self-confidence." Nellie shakes her head. "Whatever, you're probably going to find them in the attic above the old gym."

"Old gym?"

"We got a new one last year." Nellie sneers. "Bribe from Agate's parents to keep some shit she pulled quiet. The old gym is supposed to get converted into a greenhouse. Someday. The way money is managed here, it'll take a while. Anyway, the space doesn't get used anymore and we're forbidden to enter it, but Agate is related to Maria Cino, the vice-leader of Security. Bitch gets away with everything."

"You don't say," says a cold voice from behind them. Nellie squeaks in surprise, Rosa merely raises an eyebrow.

"Hello again, Zara Rinaldi."

The other girl gives Rosa a cool nod, then turns to Nellie who backs up in terror. "Related to Cino how?"

"N-n-niece! Please d-don't hurt me!"

Zara eyes Nellie in disdain and makes a dismissive gesture. "Scram." Nellie yelps and runs.

Rosa whistles. "Did you kill someone?"

"Yes."

"Ah," Rosa nods. "On purpose?"

"Is that any of your business?"

Rosa shrugs. "I'm curious."

Zara's lips curl. "I planned and executed it." Her lips curl in disdain. "And I made it painful. Are you scared now?"

"Nah." Rosa flips her hair back. "Anyway, I got a minion to save and a school to take over. Do you happen to know the way to the old gym? I'd rather not beat up the two Security trolls heading for us in the middle of the corridor before I've dealt with this Agate character and her posse. I haven't even met the girl and I already hate her."

"Tch." Zara snorts. "You really think you can take on Security."

"Of course." Rosa taxes the other girl. "Wanna help? So far, you're the only one I've seen fighting back." She shrugs. "Well, whatever. Ahh, and here they are."

The two Security women look like Aunt Marge with muscle instead of fat. Twins, maybe? Not that it matters. Gleaming batons in their hands, one sneers down at them while the other strokes her weapon, a malicious grin on her face. The corridor clears pretty fast of any other students. "Here we have the little murderer and the arsonist. Breaking the dress code and obviously conspiring. Well, well."

"Are all of them this ugly?" Rosa asks Zara, who gives her a death glare.

" _What did you just say_?!" Marge-on-the-right roars with admittedly impressive anger. "You want detention, you little bitch?!"

Judging from Zara's minute flinch, detention is not something Rosa wants to experience in this school. The girl is definitely an Inactive Cloud, and to scare one? That takes something drastic. Yeah... these two are going down.

"My bad," Rosa answers Marge-on-the-right. "I can't seem to tell the difference between your face and your ass merely by the anatomic arrangement on your body. I'm rather confused by the fact that you're spouting shit through what appears to be your mouth."

Marge-on-the-left doesn't bother with threats. The baton comes down on Rosa. Rather than jump back, she jumps forward, ducking below the hit, and rams her knee between the Security woman’s legs, who shrieks and tries to grab Rosa's hair.

_Bad idea._ Rosa _likes_ her hair. She grabs the meaty hand. Her fingers wrap around the woman's little finger and bend it back. The woman screeches, forced to her knees by the threat of having her finger broken.

Rosa just smashes her fist against the woman's temple now that her head is actually in hitting-range. One down. The whole thing had taken maybe fifteen seconds.

The remaining Security woman is busy trying to evade and deflect thrown pencils that gleam wickedly sharp as they leave Zara's hands with deadly precision. Not at Belphegor's level, but give it a few years... another shriek breaks Rosa out of her musings. The remaining Marge's hand is nailed to the wall. Then Zara picks the baton up and-

"Well she's not getting up anytime soon," Rosa muses. "Or walking anywhere."

Zara turns and breaks Rosa's downed opponent's kneecap, too.

"What, exactly, happens in detention?" Rosa asks quietly. Zara ignores her and stalks off.

"The gym is this way."

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa follows after Zara into a part of St. Brutus that sort of reminds her of the Hogwarts dungeons. The corridors are dark, silent, and seem to become dustier the farther they move. There's not a sound besides Zara's footsteps, Rosa's own bare feet make hardly any noise at all.

It seems like the setup to a horror movie in which Rosa is the dumb blonde heading right into danger.

Blond she may be, but stupidity is generally not one of her attributes. And the danger seems more like a joke. Reborn's watching, she's the goddamn last Vongola heir, this is supposedly an all-civilian mess - death is not a real risk here.

They walk through a changing room and find themselves in another corridor, only dimly lit by emergency exit signs. It leads to a large set of glass double doors behind which lies darkness - the gym. Rosa pulls out her kubotan. They aren't the same set she'd had before, missing the Varia emblem. These just look like black pens, except they are heavier, reinforced, and have grooves to give a better grip.

They work the same way though, and that's all that really matters.

_Is that the only entrance?_ Rosa writes on her hand. Zara nods. _I'll go in first._

Sneaking in is pretty much impossible. The doors are creak loudly, so she doesn't bother with stealth as she walks into the dark gym, steps echoing. Zara though has a chance to slip in unnoticed after her, and Rosa hopes she takes it. It's not like that's actually _needed_ , but any edge they have is a good edge.

Someone claps. "Well, well, you found us," says a sugary voice.

Bright lights flicker on. Rosa finds herself surrounded by eighteen rather muscular girls in unflattering school uniforms. In front of her stands Agate, and right next to _her_ is Nellie. "Surprise." She grins. "You walked right into the trap like the righteous brat you are."

"Oh my god, a trap," Rosa says monotonously. "How did I not see this coming. Woe is me. I'm so scared. Have mercy on my poor self." She casts a surreptitious look around. Eloisa is nowhere to be seen, which is all she needs to know, really.

Nellie scowls. "I know your type! All heroic and shit, pisses me off! You're what, seven?"

"Ten, actually." Rosa raises an eyebrow. "Honestly. You think I'm a _hero_?"

"Enough of this!" Agate interjects and cracks her knuckles. "I knew right when I first saw you that you needed to be taught a lesson. What do you say, girls, how about we do that now?" Her followers jeer.

God, that girl is a joke of a leader. Rosa doesn't even bother dropping a cool line and just raises her kubotan-holding fists, falling into a relaxed fighting stance. Considering her weapons look like pens and the girls laugh at her, she doesn't look very intimidating. Until she lets lose some killing intent, then the less dumb girl-trolls back off nervously.

It's all the opening she'll get, and she isn't about to wait for them to start attacking first, so she bursts into motion. Flipping back, she bridges the distance to the two standing behind her before they can react. They go down quickly, but by then the others are reacting. The first one to reach her gets a punch to the stomach, the next a spinning kick to the face. Then Zara reveals herself, attacking from the side with thrown pencils.

"Get them!" Agate screams.

They try, they honestly do. But Rosa's Quality, Zara has the potential, and their opponents are not even close to that level.

A twitch of intuition, and Rosa ducks under the crackle of electricity. Nellie holds two tasers - obviously modified - in her hands that spark madly. The expression on her face is ugly. "You're going to pay!"

Rosa has to give it to her, the girl is fast and smart - smart enough to fool _her_ into thinking she’s not a fighter. Nellie dances away from Rosa's attacks and swipes the tasers in wide arcs around herself, drawing whips of lightning in the air. Rosa hisses when a taser almost brushes her, sparks hitting her bare skin.

Unfortunately for Nellie, Rosa is not above fighting dirty. She reaches into her pocket, grabs the keys she swiped off the last Security troll she beat, and throws them into Nellies face. The girl flinches back and raises her taser-holding hands to protect herself reflexively. Rosa darts forward, grabs her wrists, and pushes the hands just that bit closer into her face. Nellie shrieks as she electrocutes herself, falling to the ground in a twitching mess. Rosa smirks and swipes her weapons. Who knew, they might be useful.

She turns around. Most everyone is down now, courtesy of Zara, who stands across from the scowling Agate. "Back down now!" the bully screeches. In her rather meaty fists are a pair of batons, much like what the Security officers have. "Oh, you are _so_ going to get detention! When my aunt finds out-"

"I don't care," Zara hisses. "I'll deal with her, too!"

Agate isn't that bad a fighter, Rosa has to give it to her. She had to have something going for her besides convenient relations. Unfortunately for her, she's also a close combat fighter, while Zara is not. And Agate might be good, but Zara could be Varia Quality in a few years. It's not really any contest.

"Feel better?" Rosa asks sardonically when it's over. Zara gives her a glare. "Just asking. Anyway, Eloisa isn't here, this was all a trap, but considering the result I doubt anyone's going to complain." Rosa looks around for a first-aid kit. But it's an unused part of the school, why would there be any here?

Well, it's not like it's important. Neither her nor Zara had gotten hurt. She would have liked to make sure their defeated opponents didn't have any lasting damage, but whatever. "Help me tie them up, please?" she asks.

Speakers crackle on. "Attention, students," a smooth voice says. "It has come to our attention that two students are attempting to defy the order and have attacked valued member of our very own Security officers." Zara and Rosa exchange a look.

Not good.

"I will make this brief." The voice chuckles. "The ones to bring Zara Rinaldi and Rosa Bella to my office will be rewarded. All others will have any and all privileges revoked. That is all. Have a good day, students. Oh... and the two delinquents in question are currently in the old gym, for those of you who are interested."

The speakers click off and leave ringing silence.

 

 

 


	9. Of Worth and Worthiness

_Previously:_

_"I will make this brief." The voice chuckles. "The ones to bring Zara Rinaldi and Rosa Bella to my office will be rewarded. All others will have any and all privileges revoked. That is all. Have a good day, students. Oh... and the two delinquents in question are currently in the old gym, for those of you who are interested."_

_The speakers click off and leave ringing silence._

* * *

 

"Of _course_ there are surveillance cameras," Rosa murmurs. "Crap."

She'd been aware of them in the corridors, had made sure to not get caught beating people up on camera. But here in the gym, all cameras are hidden by darkness and shadows. And by now, the people she and Zara had beaten up and hidden in cupboards would have been found.

"Well then." Rosa straightens. "From where are the cameras controlled? And the speakers, for that matter?"

" _Her_ office," Zara spits out.

"Then let's get moving," Rosa suggests. Then her lips twitch as an idea hits. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know if there's a Chemistry lab in this school?"

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

There is, in face, a fully stocked Chemistry lab. Because it might be a prison school, but it's for delinquent girls with filthy rich parents. Therefore, the delinquent offspring must not suffer a mediocre education just because of some minor hijinks with annoying shit like the law, and therefore, the school comes fully equipped with a lot of useful stuff that is normally kept under lock and key. Except both Rosa and Zara had swiped keys from the defeated Security Officers and Rosa is decent at lockpicking besides.

Getting there was a close thing. They'd just barely managed to get out of the old gym before the stampede of delinquent girls with the sole objective of capturing them arrived.

Zara and Rosa are good fighters. But overwhelming numbers would be a serious problem. Especially as Zara's pencil projectiles are limited in number and Rosa is handicapped to not using Flames openly. Thus, hauling ass was advised. Also, taking out any camera they came across. And backtracking through the afterwards not monitored corridors.

Now, they're inside the lab and Rosa resolutely ignores the little voice in her head yelling at her that being barefoot around chemicals is _so irresponsible_.

There's a teacher inside, staring at them with wide eyes. A spindly man with a mop of white hair and a walrus-like mustache. "You are- you are the girls from the announcement!" he squeaks.

Zara pins him to a wall.

"Wait! I'm - I want to help you! I want to - this school - I can't stand by any longer!"

Zara scoffs. But Rosa doesn't dismiss him so easily. "Do you really mean that?" she asks, and amps up her Flames, letting them course within her body and reinforce her presence. Sky charisma is nothing to scoff at.

"Yes! As a teacher, I should protect students! Yet I've - I've stood by so long, I- don’t know why-" he chokes up. "Tell me what you need!"

"Shoes," Rosa mutters. "But I doubt you have any here, so I'll settle for-"

She rattles off a list of chemicals and devices she'll need. Twenty minutes later and she's got a set of improvised smoke bombs, and a few stink bombs that the teacher, Professor Gaspare, apparently had lying around. Zara meanwhile had stocked up on pointy projectiles.

Someone hammers against the door. "Open! This is Security!"

"Crap," Rosa mutters, looking around. The place looked like, well, someone had done unauthorised experiments.

"Hide!" The teacher, Gaspare, hisses, eyes wide with panic. "I'll, uh, lie to them..."

Her and Zara exchange a look. The other girl rolls her eyes and pulls a few pinwheels out, apparently intent on using them instead of pencils. Which, weird, but okay. Rosa gives her a nod and stalks over to the door, much to the professor's protest. She yanks it open and two Security trolls inside. Pushes one at Zara and downs the other with the taser she'd swiped from Nellie.

"...that was too easy," she mumbles. Then she notes an in-ear speaker in the Security woman's ear and swipes it. Listens for a second. Curses and shouts, "They know we're here now! They had emergency buttons!"

They run.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"Did we... hah… lose them?" Gaspare gasps. He's an old man who looks like he's never exercised in his lifetime.

The three of them had made it outside, at least. St. Brutus doesn't have much in the way of a schoolyard, but the old gothic building has a few niches and crevices that they could duck into.

"Not for long," Rosa answers grimly. "You stay here. We'll create a distraction and draw them away."

"I can help!"

She gives him a pitying look before knocking him out with a precise jab to his neck before hiding him under a bush. And then she takes his shoes, sturdy things designed to be resistant to chemicals. Only a bit too large, because Rosa has big feet for a girl her age, while Gaspare's are tiny.

"Now what," Zara asks. She scans the surroundings. Rosa bites her lip.

"The surveillance cameras," she says. "We need to take them out."

If she could get to a computer, she could hack the whole system. But then Reborn would know about her hacking skills. And that would have consequences.

So it'd have to be the hard way. Or maybe... the roundabout way?

"We'll cut off their electricity," she decides. "You don't happen to know where they keep the fuse box?"

"I doubt it'll be anywhere we can access," Zara answers flatly.

"Long shot anyway." Rosa shrugs. Then she smirks. "Say, does this school have a sprinkler system?"

Zara tilts her head. "Go on..."

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

An hour later, St. Brutus School for Incurably Criminal Girls is experiencing a blackout. The corridors are drenched in water, and both Rosa and Zara's clothes are soaked.

They still feel pretty damn smug.

Rosa had dissembled Nellies tasers and taken the cables and electrodes within. Then she'd found an electrical socket and fiddled around. Thank God for her calm hands because it'd have sucked it she electrocuted herself.

And then she and Zara had set off the sprinkler system. And short-circuited the whole power supply system in the process.

"Let's go then," Rosa says, the high of pulling _that_ off making her grin ferally.

This time, when they run, it's not away from but towards the danger. Water splashes under their steps.

And then they turn a corner and stand before fifteen girls, all sporting mean grins. "I'll take the right half," Zara decides. "You do the left."

"You got it."

The first girl storms at Rosa with a howl. Rosa sidesteps her, sticks a leg out, and trips her. Then she drops her kubotan into her hands and charges.

The battle seems to take ages. Because the noise attracts more enemies. For all that Rosa defeats, two more seem to appear. And fighting like this is _exhausting_. Not so much for her trained body but her mind. Constant focus is a strain. And for all her training, she's never been in a battle with this many people. There'd been mock battles in her training, sure, but that was never this chaotic and loud. And smelly. Battles smell bad. Some people lose control of their bowels when they get knocked out.

Then there's the fact that human people are so very breakable and one hit to the wrong - or right - spot can easily cause permanent damage, and these are _children_. Rosa is good enough to avoid killing, but it's still a handicap.

They need to get out. So Rosa throws stink and smoke bombs and runs, grabbing Zara in the process. The remaining girls panic. Stuck in the smoke hit around themselves and begin to fight each other instead of pursuing their targets, save for a handful of girls who are easily ambushed. They face off in an empty corridor and Rosa is just about to say something when someone barrels right into their opponents, throwing them into walls and to the ground.

Eloisa grins at Rosa and Zara. She looks significantly better after having followed Rosa's advice on makeup. "Mean," she says. "You started without me!"

"Well." Rosa shrugs. "Nellie said you'd gotten your ass captured by Agate or some shit. Kinda had to deal with that. Except it was a trap and Nellie a two-faced rat."

"Crap!" Eloisa hits her forehead. "I shoulda told you about Nellie! Damn... wait, you went after Agate because of _me_?!" She gapes at the two of them.

Rosa shrugs again. "I was gonna do it anyway."

Noise coming from behind them. They haul ass.

Hiding in bathrooms is cliché. Rosa inwardly cringes at the indignity of it all. She wonders if Reborn does, too. Probably not.

"So what do we do now?" Eloisa asks.

" _We_?" Zara hisses. " _We_ will do nothing. _I_ however-"

"I've got a plan," Rosa announces. "It's not pretty, but it'll work."

"...Talk."

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"Outta my way!" Eloisa shouts. "They're _mine_!"

Zara is draped over her shoulder, Rosa tucked under her arm, both seemingly unconscious, their hands tied together by the ties of the school uniform.

Rosa is fully aware that it's her plan and the best option they have, but that doesn't mean she has to like it. Being in a prison school is bad enough, being tied up trumps even that. At least she can get out of the binds, they’re loose enough, and she can burn them off within an instant if she needs to. That bit of assurance does little to soothe her temper, and she's sure that it's even worse for Zara who is more Cloud than she and _not_ capable of setting her hands on fire.

But this is the plan. When it was just Rosa and Zara, their only options would have been to fight or run. But with Eloisa, who was not fighting by their side before electricity went down and the cameras got useless, they have more options. Namely, Eloisa pretending to have captured them and delivering them to the head of Security whom they can then defeat, thus bypassing a majority of enemy forces.

It's still risky, but so far they've gotten past a number of Security guards, though other students have been more than eager to attack Eloisa in order to steal the rewards for themselves - or avoid the punishments.

But there won't _be_ any punishments or rewards for anyone, not once Rosa is done with this place.

There would be freedom instead. Or at least, a fair system. Most girls would be in this prison school for a reason.

She wants to sigh and rub her temples. It's been a tiring day, her body is achy and exhausted, Varia training or no. But the day's work is not yet done, and until it is she will not rest.

"Why should _you_ get the reward?" some girl's voice sneers at Eloisa. She's not the first one.

Zara twitches once again, probably quickly running out of patience. But controlled enough not to lash out, which is a small mercy.

"Cause I did all the work, duh," Eloisa snaps back. "You stupid or something?"

"You-!"

Eloisa barrels the other girl down with the force of a bulldozer. Which is impressive, but quite uncomfortable for those she's carrying.

It goes on like that until they reach the Security Wing of the school. It's guarded, of course. Seeing as neither Zara or Eloisa have been in there before, this is the part where Rosa's plan goes from 'get close to the enemy' to 'we'll figure that out when we get there, let's plan for the more likely scenarios and having to beat lots of people up'.

"Name!" the guard barks at Eloisa, who swiftly replies. "Right. Give 'em to us and get lost."

Eloisa stiffens. "I want my reward," she protests. "I captured them!"

"Your reward is not getting detention!" The Security guard begins to laugh maliciously.

"I see," Eloisa says, and gently hands Rosa and Zara over. Rosa keeps her eyes firmly closed, but can easily identify Eloisa's steps moving away.

That's fine. They'd planned for this. Just because they hadn’t known what would happen from this point onwards didn't mean they couldn't make educated guesses. Eloisa has her own part to play in this, and the rest would bank on Rosa and Zara doing their part.

The Security guards handle Rosa and Zara a great deal rougher than Eloisa did, but seeing as they're pretending to be unconscious and thus don't struggle, it could be worse. They get lugged down a few corridors, hear numbers entered into number pads before doors slide open, and then the inevitable, "Take them to - why aren't they tied up properly?!"

Which is their cue to go wild. And wild they go.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Breathing hard, Rosa ducks into a niche so she can set a dislocated shoulder. She can hear the shouts from where Zara is covering her.

Seventeen minutes. They'd started fighting Security seventeen minutes ago.  How are there so many of them?

Scowling, Rosa deals with her injury. _Ow_. Dammit, this wouldn't have happened if she were allowed to use Flames, but this is still all-civilian, she _can't_. Only internal use of Flames is okay, making herself faster and stronger, but it's not Dying Will Mode, and it's not _enough_.

Getting to her feet, she charges into the fight again.

Is it just her getting weaker, or are the enemies getting stronger? Zara at her back is definitely beginning to lag. And her current opponents don't just use batons anymore, they've got other weapons - tonfa, tasers, guns. Once, Rosa nearly gets his with pepper spray. But oh, so what if they get stronger?

All she has to do is to keep standing and breathing and fighting.

_Give them one inch and they'll take a mile and keep taking and taking until you're an empty husk._

Losing is _not an option_. No. Just _no_. She's lost too much already. If she falls, if she even so much as bends her neck - losing ground is easy, recovering it near impossible. And with Reborn watching, and given Rosa’s big words earlier (was it only this morning?), she absolutely can't afford mistakes.

He'd given her a challenge. And she had scorned him for it and essentially announced that she wouldn't so much as rise up to it but utterly destroy it. If she couldn't live up to her words - well. She might as well let him micromanage her life completely then.

The last guard falls and they forge on. The stash of smoke and stink grenades is empty by now and Zara's had to switch to using pencils again, her pinwheels all used up. Rosa herself is hurting everywhere - she's a good fighter, but numbers do matter. There's only one of her and one of Zara and countless opponents.

" _Really_ could've planned this better," she mutters to herself.

"There actually was a plan?" Zara deadpans.

"It went something like, kick ass and blow shit up. So far it's going fabulously."

Zara snorts, revealing that she does have some sense of humor, albeit a questionable one.

The next room is empty save for one woman, one whose eyes glint with malice as she looks not at Rosa but her companion. A badge on her chest proclaims her to be not just a part of Security but a high-placed one.

" _Cino_ ," Zara hisses, fists clenching and unclenching in agitation.

"The vice-leader?" Rosa whispers, scanning the woman. Yes, there is a resemblance to Agate, but the younger girl had never looked quite so dangerous.

"Zara, Zara," the woman simpers, shaking her head. "You've been such a naughty girl."

"Go," Zara orders Rosa.

"I'm not leaving you to face this alone!" Rosa protests instantly.

"She's mine!" And Zara lunges forward with a ferocity that surprises both her opponent and Rosa. "Rosa, go!"

"You don't stand a ghost of a chance!" Cino shrieks and pulls guns. Aims at Rosa. "You won't go any further, you silly girl!" But Zara is moving too quickly, throws her pencils at the woman’s face so she misfires.

"Go, damn it!"

Rosa bites her lip, then snarls. "You better catch up with me!" And throws herself through the opening Zara provides her in that instant. Kicks in the door - solid metal, _oww_ \- and lands in another corridor. Just keeps running.

"Concern for your subordinate is a good quality in a boss," Reborn speaks up. Rosa doesn't question where he came from so suddenly. "Trust is even better."

Rosa halts abruptly. "Okay, stop right there." She glares at her tutor. "One, I don't know what kind of image you have of me, but any decent human being would feel worry for a _child_ that has faced _abuse_ the way Zara did. Two, she isn't my subordinate. She's an ally with a common goal."

"She's a candidate for Cloud guardian," Reborn confirms what Rosa had suspected ever since meeting Zara Rinaldi, a faint note of disapproval in his squeaky voice.

"And apparently it's already a done deal," Rosa states neutrally. "Some people seem to be forgetting that _I_ am the one who makes the choice in the end, and tricking me into it is not the way to make me agreeable to their favoured outcome." She shakes her head angrily. "I don't have time for this." She begins running again.

"And what does Zara lack that she doesn't meet your standards?" Reborn asks, sounding frustrated. And Rosa can't believe he actually has the nerve to ask that.

"I've known her for not even half of a day," Rosa snarls. "You think I'd consider someone I barely know?"

"Zara Rinaldi has been evaluated and found to have excellent potential to be a Cloud guardian."

"Is everyone a pawn to you?!" Rosa explodes. "You know what, don't answer that." She shakes her head furiously. "I have work to do, stop bothering me."

"This discussion isn't over."

"You've made your point clear," she answers dismissively. "I remain unconvinced and my priorities lie elsewhere at present." She reaches the ornate door at the end of the corridor and kicks it in.

The leader of Security is not what she expected.

"Such violence," the old woman - her voice, it's the same voice that made the announcements over the speakers - says kindly, lifting a cup of tea to her lips. Clear blue eyes look at Rosa serenely. "My door wasn't locked, Miss Bella."

"My bad," Rosa answers acidly. "You lead Security?"

"I do indeed. My name is Arachne." The woman smiles, wrinkles crinkling. "Is that what brings you to me, my dear?"

"Don't call me that. I'm not anyone's dear. And that's not your real name."

"It's the name that is mine, my dear." Rosa bristles, and the woman smiles. "Would you care for a cup of tea?"

"Not particularly, no." Rosa fights to keep her temper.

"There really is no need to be so antagonistic, dear. You are tired, aren't you? Exhausted."

She is, actually.

"You don't really want to fight, do you?" The woman steeples her fingers against each other. "None of this was your intention, you were forced into this."

"Yes..." escapes from Rosa's lips, and she frowns at the slip.

"Come, have seat. Have some tea. Tell me what grieves you so, that you must take such drastic actions."

Rosa slumps into a chair. The cushions are soft and comfortable, and her muscles tremble with relief. "You'd listen?" That's, huh. It seems so unlikely in light of... what again? The facts slip from her mind. Something about Security. Zara? Wait... ahh, so tired.

"I always have an ear for my students' grievances."

"You're not a... a teacher," Rosa slurs. "And I and the others defeated all your officers..."

"Impressive indeed, my poor, misguided child. With the proper guidance, you'll make an excellent addition to my forces."

"Not a child." Rosa frowns, trying to gather her murky thoughts. "I'm not a child."

"Ten years old, orphaned. You had to grow up too quickly, didn't you?"

"I'm not a child," Rosa repeats.

That's right, she'd never really been a child. Not in her previous life, and only for a few short years in this one, until she remembered what once was. Her head's spinning, and she takes a deep breath, but that makes it _worse_.

"Of course not, my dear. Forgive an old woman... I only wish to help you. I will protect you, guide you..."

_"No_!" The word falls from Rosa's lips with the force of a gunshot, her intuition protesting violently. "No. You won't. You're... _bad_."

"My dear, you are confused..."

"I'm _not_ ," Rosa hisses. "There's, you did something. With the air. You won't..." she blinks. "Tranquility. Rain. You're not civilian."

The temperature of the room seems to drop instantly. " _What did you just say?_ " the old woman hisses, getting up with a gracefulness belying her apparent age.

Rosa tries to get up from her chair, instinct urging her to get away away _away_ , but thin threads are wrapped all around her, tying her to it, _how did she not notice it_. This is _bad_. "Arachne," she mumbles. "Spider. Ooohh."

Back when she looked for a connection between the murders of her father and uncle, she'd gone through a lot of files and information. She'd gone over old murder cases, too.. "Assassin. Never could find you. So this is where you've been hiding..."

"You know entirely too much." Arachne smiles, but now there's nothing serene or reassuring about it. Her eyes are like ice chips. "I'm truly sorry, my dear. My true identity must remain secret."

"Shoulda known better than to assassinate Vongola Ottavia's Lightning and his daughter, no, _Lady Spyder_?" Rosa whispers, a distant memory welling up.

Spyder pulls at _something_ in the air, and Rosa's air cuts off.

Ah, but Spyder _isn't civilian_ and that changes everything. Because she won't be breaking Omertá if she uses Flames.

Finding her resolve when everything's spinning and the air saturated with Rain Flames is hard. But the assassin had made one mistake - she'd _tied Rosa up_ and it's _pissing her off_. She draws on anger instead of resolve, and her hands burst into Flames. Which is _useless_ because she can barely move and the threads binding her are Flame resistant, and what can she do, what can she fucking _do_ -

_Diffindo!_ she thinks, and doesn't know who's the most surprised when the Flames on her hands lash out and _cut_ through the threads. _Oh._

"Sky Flames?!" Spyder exclaims.

Rosa gets up, fire travelling over her. Her Forehead erupts with Flames. Her head clears. She straightens proudly. "I'm Rosabella Vongola, Heir Apparent of the Vongola Famiglia, Vongola Decima. And _you_ have run far too long from the consequences of your crimes."

Spyder lunges at her, tiny blades dripping with clear liquid suddenly between her fingers. She's fast, she's _good_ , she's _definitely_ Quality, but so is Rosa, and Rosa's spent the past half of her life in the mad house that is Varia HQ while Spyder wove her nets here in a civilian school and went without any challenge to grow on for who knows how long.

Rosa grabs her chair and smashes it into the woman which has the advantage of ripping the threads spun all over the room into chaos. Spyder crashes into her desk but is on her feet almost instantly, now attacking with thin stiletto blades that are most definitely poisoned. Rosa flips back to avoid the wickedly sharp weapons, does her best to avoid them. Her kubotan drop from her sleeps into her hands, Flames channelled through them.

The window shatters under her weapons, fresh air streaming in and hopefully flushing out any poison or Rain still pervading the air, and Spyder hisses in anger. Triggers a trap that launches needles at Rosa who manages to avoid them by throwing herself to the ground but takes a kick to her arm for it. She feels the bone crack, drops one of her weapons. She drives the other one into the assassin's kneecap, who howls as she goes down. They roll over the ground in what must look like an uncivilised brawl but is really a series of precise grapple holds, neither managing to get the other to fucking _lie still_. Rosa is small and slippery and she's trained for this kind of thing, she's also _still on fire_ , but the other woman is _good at this_ and those damn blades of hers-

_Expelliarmus!_ Rosa mentally shouts, and her Flames lash out and throw the woman away from her into the wall, her blades sailing towards Rosa. She lets them clatter to the floor.

Spyder coughs up drops of red.

"It's _over_ ," Rosa hisses.

" _Not it's not!_ " Spyder suddenly holds a gun, tiny and delicate, and _oh shit_ the shot rings out before Rosa even registers what it is in Spyder's hand. But her Intuition is a handy thing and her body is already moving when the shot sounds.

Still fucking hurts when it hits her not-broken arm because that's just her fucking luck.

"I won't miss this time!"

She does, though, because now that Rosa is aware of the gun, well. One learns damn quickly to avoid gunshots when training with Xanxus.

Rosa manages to raise her broken arm at the woman - let's see if her Flames can manage attack spells, too - when her Intuition suddenly purrs. She drops back to the ground, clutches her bleeding arm, curls into a tiny ball, and screams. High and terrified. "Help! Help!"

"What?!" Spyder shouts.

"Freeze! Police! Drop the gun!"

Rosa smirks within the shelter of her arms as the police officers disarm and arrest the woman. "We need a medic here! There's a hurt child! Miss, can you hear me?"

"It hurts," she whines.

"It will be alright. You're safe now."

 

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"All in all, I think the whole thing worked out rather beautifully," Rosa states a few days later. Her group is sitting at a table in the cafeteria. "Good job, everyone."

"Insane," Nellie says, shaking her head in disbelief.

Eloisa preens. After handing Zara and Rosa over, it had been her job to head back to the old gym to pick up Nellie and _convince_ the hacker it'd be in her best interest to _help or suffer_. Then the two had headed outside to where they'd left the teacher Gaspare. With Nellie's help, they'd used a computer to contact the local police, and then Gaspare had known exactly what to say to get them to come quickly, resulting in the arrest of the remaining Security forces.

More finagling with the computer had seen to it that Gaspare would be the new headmaster once the school opened again - and it _would_ open again, the rich assholes would still need a place to stash their misguided daughters.

The whole thing had somehow been kept quiet enough not to make the news - probably Mafia influence right there. Spyder had disappeared without a trace, and considering the old woman had been unconscious by that point and thus unable to flee - well. Someone had to have taken her. Rosa doubts she's still alive at this point.

"I figured getting the police involved would prevent someone else simply taking that woman's place and continuing with this sick farce," Rosa tells the assorted girls. "God knows why no one else ever thought to do it." She can guess, though. Spyder had almost brainwashed _her_ , and the teachers would have been under her influence for years and years. Add to that that the only ones with access to communication to the outside world were Security officers, and the fact that the faculty had consisted of people that essentially had no life or family outside St. Brutus - Spyder had been thorough.

Getting the police involved was also the only way Rosa could think of that would prevent the Mafia from taking control of the school. All these girls, already criminally inclined - they wouldn't stay civilian if the Mafia had access to them. And Rosa couldn't let them become pawns for the Underworld.

It was probably not what Reborn had imagined when he threw her into this school. He probably didn't know about Arachne's identity either, it was highly doubtful the Famiglia would have let her near an assassin that got the better of a Vongola guardian. Rosa wouldn't know, she and her tutor had barely had a chance to talk, what with her getting carted into a hospital and all bandaged up. Not that Rosa was all that eager to talk in the first place.

"It's really over," Nellie murmurs.

"Yeah," Eloisa answers. "It is."

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa finds herself at the school gates that evening. It hadn't been a conscious decision, her feet had just... carried her here.

"You're leaving," Zara says. "I knew you would."

"I don't belong here," Rosa answers quietly. Wistfully.  But she doesn't look back at St. Brutus, no matter how... fond she might have become of the girls there. For a while, it was a bit like Hogwarts here. Even the danger... but Rosa had been lying about who she was the entire time, and if she doesn't want the Mafia to get their fingers on this place then she can't stay here either.

Zara is quiet for a while. Then, "Take me with you."

"No."

The other girl jerks. Nods stiffly. Leaves. Rosa looks after her, hesitates. She shouldn't say anything. Clean breaks are better. But. "I'm sorry. I can't give you what you need." Pauses. "I hope you find someone who can make you happy."

Zara doesn't look back, and Rosa turns away and begins walking, back to that large and silent house with the too-many empty rooms.

"You really rejected her," Reborn states, somehow appearing from a hole in the ground, a mining hat on his head.

"Yes," Rosa answers. Regretfully, because she... would have liked Zara as a guardian. But, it's not all about her, isn't it?

"Why?" Reborn asks.

"Because. She needs some sunshine and laughter in her life, and she won't get that with me." Rosa shrugs. "It was never about meeting standards."

Reborn is quiet for a while. "Why don't you have guardians already?" he asks then.

Rosa tilts her head. "What makes you think I don't?"

Reborn freezes.

"Just kidding, I don't have any." Rosa chuckles. "Ah, the look on your face."

"Mean," Reborn huffs. "You didn't answer the question, Thorny-Rosa. Why don't you have any guardians?"

"Ah," she murmurs. "I just have some really bad luck when it comes to that."

"Explain."

"Say the magic word," slips out of her mouth.

He levels a gun at her.

"That's the wrong word. You're supposed to say please," Rosa answers flatly. "Fine, I’ll spill: I tried. Once. Didn't end well. Let's just say there's a reason strong Skies by instinct don't go for weak elements."

The memory of Fia, so fierce and proud, crying in pain, and Rosa's own Flames being _sucked_ from, play in her mind. _"I've always wanted a Sky of my own, being a guardian is my dream. But your friendship is far more precious, so Rosa... I'd rather share a bond of friendship with you than a bond of guardianship. And I'd rather_ die _than make my friend cry."_ Breaking the fledging Harmony had been _horrible_ , no matter how awful the bond had felt in the end.

Rosa firmly pushes the memory away.

"What Flame?" Reborn badgers her. "Why that person?"

What could it hurt to tell him? Fia _isn't_ her guardian, would only garner interest as _she-who-wasn't-good-enough_.

"She was fun," Rosa says thoughtfully. "No respect whatsoever. No filter either. Got a kick out of life-threatening situations. Was in Varia for the heck of it." She sighs. "Loyal. Fierce. She was one of my best friends and I don't even know if she's still alive."

"Tell me her name, I'll find out."

"No."

Codename Lilith, which was what first got Rosa's attention. Nickname Fia. Given name only supposed to be known to the Boss. _"But eh, I got attached, I figure I can tell you. My name's Fiamma. Fiamma Zabini."_

"So," Rosa changes the subject. "Do I pass the stress test or whatever St. Brutus was supposed to be?"

"I'm still mulling over that. You're troublesome, Thorny-Rosa. It's annoying."

"Ha! Don't _you_ talk to _me_ about being annoying, Devilbaby." She grows serious. "Don't do it again."

"Don't tell me how to teach. _I'm_ the tutor."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

Yeah, he'd fucked up. People do that occasionally. If he repeated the offense, well, that would be another matter, but for now? She'd do her best to tolerate him.

Fuck's sake, she's _stuck_ with Reborn. Fighting him constantly would be stupid. Tiring. _Hopeless_. _Don't fight battles you can't win._

"Speaking of which, you got hit in the fight. That was disgraceful. I expect better of my students." Reborn draws his gun. "Start running."

"I'm supposed to rest, you know," Rosa points out blandly.

A sadistic glint appears in Reborn's eyes. "It'll be even more fun if you stand still!"

...maybe she should have stayed in St. Brutus after all.

 

 

 

 

 


	10. Shadows of the Past

Reborn has developed a habit of avoiding the kitchen while Rosa is in it so as to avoid being forced into helping with cooking. He has an absolutely ridiculous aversion to making his own food. Consequently, Rosa has developed a habit of forcing him to help as revenge for putting her through daily hell.

All of it means is that the kitchen is her domain, and that she has the early mornings to herself, seeing as Reborn's breakfast-making avoidance strategies include but are not limited to sleeping in and not showing up until breakfast is on the table.

This suits Rosa just fine. Granted, the kitchen is not the _ideal_ place to figure out what her Flames can do, but it's decently fireproofed and there's no smoke alarm, more importantly it's empty of Reborn, and really? That's all she can ask for.

" _Accio,_ " she whispers, pointing a finger at the frying pan. A tendril of Flame lashes out and curls around the kitchen utensil before pulling it to Rosa's hand. She grins in excitement. Why had she never tried out magic? Okay, it isn't magic, it's just her Flames imitating spells she used to be able to do, and not all of it works. It still makes her _happy_. Magic is a part of her old life she actually _misses_.

" _Wingardium Leviosa,_ " she murmurs, swishing and flicking her hand at a cooking spoon, but nothing happens. Okay, that one doesn't work, that's okay. Hm, what other spells are there? " _Alohomora,_ " she intones and points at a door. Flames lash out, but well. They don't have the desired result, and Rosa cringes a bit at inspecting the molten insides of the door's lock. Hopefully Reborn wouldn't notice... it's not like that particular door stays open the whole time anyway.

So far, hardly Transfiguration spells work, it's touch and go with Charms, and the best results she's had with Defence spells. Which is good because she actually knows a number of those, having had to self-study _a lot_ what with the abysmal teaching in her first two years at Hogwarts and the added threat of, if not being murdered by whatever crazy plot, then being hexed in the corridors by whoever hated her enough at the time.

Hermione had approved of her (forced) enthusiasm for Defence research, Ron had looked at her weird but just shrugged and gone to play chess against whoever.

Rosa misses her old friends, sometimes. Hermione more than Ron, because unlike Ron she'd stayed _loyal_ , even if she hadn't really believed her about putting her name into the goblet. And maybe the lack of trust had hurt, but the fact that Hermione thought she was a liar and attention-seeker but _still_ stood by her, supported her, defended her, had meant even more. Ron hadn't, but Rosa still misses the friendship they used to have, his easy-going nature, the way he never judged her until the Triwizard Disaster, and how he followed her into danger even when he thought she was crazy for it. He'd been a good friend. Her best friend even.

Rosa _hates_ being alone.

Sighing, she shakes her head. Reborn would show up soon, she better get started on making food. Just one more spell... "Hm, I wonder..." She calls up a memory of her Papa, letting her ride on his shoulders, both of them laughing hard about a stupid joke he'd made. They'd been so carefree and _happy_ then. " _Expecto Patronum!_ "

In the brief second before it explodes, she manages to see that while the Flame-Patronus is not Prongs, it is a stag. Though exactly _what_ kind it is she has no time to figure out, seeing as she has to dive behind furniture for safety.

...future experimentations would have to wait until Reborn forgot about this incident.

 

―~~―~~―

 

The following day Reborn herds Rosa down the mountain into the nearby town. "What are we doing?" she asks listlessly. Reborn and her camped outside the previous night. She had to hunt their food and grill it over a campfire. It's probably punishment for blowing up the kitchen.

She has kinks in her neck and back. Her sleeping mat was not particularly comfortable and the tent was drafty.

"You will see," Reborn replies ominously.

 

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"A cooking competition," Rosa says flatly. "Really."

Reborn is suddenly wearing a chef costume. He's also holding a really long and sharp looking knife that doesn't look like it belongs in a kitchen, or in the hands of an infant for that matter. "A Mafia lady needs to feed their family!" he says.

"And you want food," Rosa guesses.

Reborns stomach growls.

"Ugh," Rosa mutters. "Fine, fine." A stray thought hits her at seeing the date on the flyers advertising the cooking competition. "Is this because of Quarto?" she asks.

"What about Quarto?" Reborn asks curiously.

"Never mind."

It has to be said that Rosa is by no means a gourmet cook. What she makes tastes good but is either of the home-cooked meal variety, or a keep-to-a-healthy-diet meal. Nothing that would be served in a restaurant and definitely nothing that will win against professional cooks.

Her life being what it is now, it becomes a moot point halfway through because first there's screams about sabotage (possibly Reborn's fault), then a mysterious food thief (Reborn's fault), and then Rosa gets blamed for everything ( _definitely_ Reborn's fault). This somehow leads to her being challenged to a cook duel.

Contrary to her expectations, it doesn't come down to who makes the tastiest dish. No, it comes down to numerous cooks attacking her with cooking utensils, most prominently frying pans and knives. How the hell did Reborn orchestrate this utter bullshit-situation, she wonders as she looks for a decent weapon. Considering the date - there! She grabs a fork.

"A frying pan would have been more effective," Reborn criticises later on their way home. It's just Rosa walking, Reborn is riding on a Leon-plane. He'd normally ride on Rosa's shoulder, but she's covered in flour and tomato sauce seeing as the whole battle turned into an entirely ridiculous and wasteful food fight. She'd won in the end, but it had been damn hard to win a duel against a frying pan wielder with a fork.

She _could_ have just taken a frying pan of her own, but had seeing as it's Vongola Quarto's death day today and he'd been using a fork for a weapon, she hadn't felt quite right about it. Especially since he's her favourite Vongola boss. 

Come to think of it, Quarto had liked cooking, too...

Ah, whatever. Today had actually been pretty damn fun. Also, she won, which makes it even better after the fact.

"I thought I'd honour my ancestor today," she answers her tutor's comment. "Vongola Quarto used a fork for a weapon, you know?"

"I'm aware." Reborn studies her.

"It's his death day today," she answers the unspoken question.

"Do you know the death days of all Vongola bosses?" Reborn asks her, sounding somewhat interested.

Her reply is somewhat smug. "And the birthdays, causes of death, the weapons they used, their accomplishments and fuck-ups, the alliances they made and broke-"

"Why?" Reborn sounds mystified.

"My father liked history," she says quietly. Then, louder, "Anyway, I respect the hell out of Quarto for being the best Vongola Boss of all times, so I used a fork today."

Reborn tilts his head. "Why Quarto?"

"He was awesome," she answers without missing a beat.

Reborn somehow manage to make silence sound dubious. It's not very surprising. When it comes to the Family history, people think about Vongola Primo, the saintly founder. His successor Secondo, maybe, too. And Ottavia if one's more interested in recent history, though that bit of history has to be treated with caution. Vongola Nono has to be known by virtue of him presently being in power. The ones in the middle? Kinda tend to be forgotten.

Also, Rosa's grand-father is a fan of Primo's so if he talks about any of his predecessors, Giotto will be the one. Which, fine, the man _was_ amazing, but Rosa's just not too trusting about all the hype. Personal experiences kind of made her wary.

"In what way?" Reborn challenges. "What makes him better than the others?"

Ooh, she could talk about this shit for _hours_. She was serious when she bragged about her history knowledge. "He's the one boss that managed to actually solve the problems the previous generation left for him. Didn't start any new shit either - no wars between Families, no disgusting crimes against humanity. He and his guardians came up with the plans for Mafia Land, though they were only realised to generations later. For all his life, Quarto worked for advancement and peace in the Mafia. He never really furthered Vongola's power - actually, it can be said that it declined under him. But during his reign, the standard of living in the Mafia was vastly improved, he invested in medicine to the point of building the first Mafia hospital ever. Mafia Cooking Culture became a thing under his reign, he founded several orphanages and charities. He made sure even the lowest of his subordinates and their families were well cared for. I'm not saying he was a saint - he wasn't, and for every bit of progress he enforced there were probably a dozen assassinations - but he was a good man with good intentions for all the right reasons and if anyone did anything to light up the Mafia, it was him."

"What about the others?" Reborn asks, actually sounding interested. Rosa guesses he only knows relevant pieces of history. He isn't exactly part of Vongola, he wouldn't have access to the sources she did. "Primo was said to be a kind man."

"Sure," Rosa answers. "He was. But most sources are also heavily biased due to being written by rather admiring chronists. And I'm not going to lie, he did amazing things and he was a great man - but most sources don't mention that he was _fifteen_ and civilian when he began making a name for himself. That's - not old at all. His friend had found himself in trouble with the law, Giotto jumped in and had no idea what it meant to go against the government at the time. Even if he had, he wouldn't have done anything different, that's the kind of guy he was. But that doesn't change the fact that he was a kid way in over his head. Once he started fighting, he had to keep doing it. People then came to him for protection and he never turned them away and he _couldn't stop fighting_ and he and his were strong, they _never_ lost. Vongola kept growing and growing and he didn't stop it, people got greedy and drunk on power and he - left."

"Hm," Reborn says.

"I do admire him for his resolve to protect his people," Rosa says. "But I don't see Giotto the Saint or Giotto the Hero. He was Giotto the Human, he made mistakes, he had blood on his hands, and in the end? What he accomplished was almost exclusively to the benefit of a select group of people - the Vongola. Everyone else still suffered because he never got to the root of the problems - he just shielded the Family from them. The corrupt regime, the unfair judicial system, the crippled economy - those continued on long after his time. Maybe he tried to deal with them, maybe he didn't, it's not well-documented at all. But what I do know is that after he retired and left? Things got a lot worse."

"Do you know why he left?"

"No one does. The popular theory is that he got scared of the monster he created, tried to dissolve it, and ran when Ricardo Vongola, who then became Vongola Secondo, objected to that course of action." Rosa frowns. "Doesn't feel right if you ask me. Giotto wasn't a runner and things are never that clear-cut anyway. Maybe he was just tired of everyone's shit." She pauses. "My point is, I don't want to be the kind of boss that stumbles head first into a hornet's nest and spends the rest of his life fighting without a clue how to _stop_."

Like her in her previous life. She hadn't exactly taken on a government, but the Dark Lord everyone else was scared off does seem a comparable danger. And for her friends, she _would_ have taken on the world. Back when they'd taken Hagrid to Azkaban. If she hadn't been so shocked, she'd have thrown down with the Minister in a heartbeat. He was gone too quickly though.

"Tell me about the other bosses." Rosa blinks, for a moment she'd forgotten he was there. Huh.

"Secondo valued power," she then says. "He was left with the monster that the family had become and decided that violence was the answer to everything. He dealt with his problems by making them go away. It was a bloody chapter in the history of Vongola, second-bloodiest from what I can tell. Ricardo Vongola was ruthless and ruled through fear. Can't say it wasn't effective, but out alliances _suffered_ something fierce, and once he was gone? There was an uprising against us. Terzo spent pretty much all his time bribing people into not attacking, having key people assassinated, and trying to salvage alliances. He was a devious one, I doubt anyone else could've pulled off what he did... then came Quarto who was awesome. Not much to say about Quinto, his reign was short... After that Sesto and Settimo who both were masterminds when it came to economy. Like I said, Mafia Land was built on Sexto's initiative because he saw the sheer potential it held, the _power_ it could bring. There was other stuff, they were ruthless and cutthroat but _damn_ if they didn't get shit done."

Rosa falls silent then for a while. "I do admire them," she finally says. "All of them ultimately had qualities that I admire. But if there is one I do not wish to be like _at all_ , it is Vongola Ottavia. My great-grandmother Daniela Vongola."

Reborn looks surprised at that. "Why? I would have thought you would admire her, being that she was the first female boss of the Vongola Famiglia. You were even given her name as a middle name."

Rosa's lips twist. "My being named after her is simply for show. We don't really talk about her and history books got _adjusted_ , so I'm not surprised you don't know... I said before that Secondo's reign was the second-bloodiest, didn't I? Daniela's tops even that. Granted, World War II was going on... but the things she did, the kind of orders she gave, even if they actually had to do with the war, they weren't _okay_. And her reign continued until two decades after the war, but you really wouldn't see a difference in how she ruled during the war and after it."

He frowns, Rosa sighs. "The Mafia is sexist. Daniela Vongola became boss of the most powerful Famiglia by way of being the only choice left. And she was strong, she could've been the gamechanger. But instead, she spent her entire reign trying to prove that she was _not_ feminine, that being a woman did not make her softer or weaker, and she did that by being more brutal and bloodthirsty then any boss before her. She openly scorned her own gender, the female subordinates she had Daniela openly ridiculed, calling them filthy whores and the like. Don't get me started on the workers at the brothels Vongola operated at the time - previous bosses had always ensured that they were safe and healthy despite their profession. Daniela? _Hated_ them and made sure people knew that and treated them accordingly."

"I didn't know that," Reborn says, a fact he's clearly unhappy about.

"Like I said, we don't speak of her. Especially not my grandfather." Rosa frowns, crossing her arms over her chest. "I suspect half the reason for him being so harsh on me is because of her. He saw the damage she did first-hand. And say what you want about him, but he did a good job righting some of her wrongs or at least, compensating for them. I can respect him for that."

Though it doesn't justify her treatment, she gets it. But she is _not_ Daniela Vongola and she's also not Xanxus. She's Rosa and she may have a temper, but she also values peace, and she _will_ do right by the men and women entrusted to her care.

"Enough of this," she decides. "If I have to be like a past boss, I'll be like Quarto. Did you know, he cooked for his subordinates? Not just for his guardians, even. One time, his steward got sick and Quarto visited him at home, cooked an entire meal, helped the wife with housework, and tucked the kids into bed. And there's tons of stories like that about him. I just... think that he was the kind of boss I'd want to follow, if I weren't who I am." Her lips quirk. "Also, I feel an odd kinship with him because his weapon was a fork and mine are pretty much reinforced pens, both of which are kind of ridiculous choices for weapons."

Reborn snorts.

"So," Rosa says. "Which boss do you want me to be like?"

He pulls his fedora down and smirks. "When I'm done with you, Thorny-Rosa, you'll be in a class of your own."

Her lips quirk up, she smirks back. "Sounds good to me." Maybe a bit lonely, but that's what guardians are for, right? If she ever gets any. Anyway, she feels herself soften a bit towards Reborn. He's-

"Err, Reborn?" she asks, looking ahead. "Is that your doing or is the house surrounded by men in suits by accident?"

"It's the Chiavarone," Reborn answers, frowning.

"Aha. Do they know surrounding the house of a future boss while armed is generally frowned upon?"

"They aren't hostile."

"They still have firearms." Rosa sighs. "So, why are they here?"

Reborn looks _really_ unhappy. "I didn't call them here."

"Great. Super fucking great."

Reborn shoots a rubber bullet against her forehead on principle which she tolerates stoically - she's used to that now. "The current Chiavarone boss was my student before you."

"Dino?" Rosa inquires, brow raised.

"You know him?"

"Heard of him." Squalo was reluctantly friends with the guy which involved a lot of ranting at times. An utter loser, if Rosa remembers correctly, but then Squalo isn't exactly the best source of unbiased information. "So he was your student? Like, he actually managed to survive your training? Huh."

Reborn still looks unhappy. "I had to leave him earlier than I was comfortable with."

"Because of me." Rosa rubs at her face before she remembers there's still flour on her hands. Crap. "So, he's here for you?"

"I'm _your_ tutor now," Reborn says sharply.

She rolls her eyes. "So? Am I not going to benefit from meeting a proper boss and fellow student of yours? And it's not like you're forbidden from giving him tips when he's _right there_."

"...you just want him to distract me from you."

"Correct, but I also want a shower, so while I go deal with that, you deal with them." Rosa raises an eyebrow. "No way in hell am I meeting another boss with flour and tomato sauce all over my face."

She probably should have known better than to jinx herself like that because not a second later, a young man with blond hair comes tumbling down the hill but somehow manages to catch himself by slinging a whip around a tree and lands perfectly on his feet in front of her. "Hi," Rosa says, voice dry as a desert.

"Mio dio, are you okay?" Dino Chiavarone exclaims, grasping her shoulders.

She kicks his shin and extracts herself from his grip. "It's tomato sauce. Not blood. Blame Reborn."

"Oh. Yeah. That makes sense." He scratches the back of his head and laughs sheepishly right before a kick from Reborn nails him into the ground.

"Hello, Useless Dino," Reborn greets.

"Reborn!" Dino cries out. "Ow, stop that!"

"No. Why are you here?" To Rosa, Reborn orders, "Go clean up. Mafia bosses don't walk around dirty."

"And whose fault is the dirt, huh?" she points out crossly. Dino squeaks again. "Whatever."

It's not like taking a shower wasn't what she wanted in the first place.

 

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa takes her time with the shower. Or rather, she leaves the water running while practicing her Flame tricks, seeing as the bathroom is now the only place she can practice in private, what with the kitchen having been blown up. It's by no means ideal, but at least she can be sure that the bathroom is the one room where Reborn won't spy on her.

So it's an hour later that she walks out and is met with Reborn telling her that, "We are visiting the Chiavarone Estate."

"Okay," she answers blandly. "For how long should I pack?"

"It's being handled," Reborn informs her. "Get going, the car is waiting and a good boss doesn't make people wait."

She studies him. "You look... happy? By your standards at least." Reborn doesn't have that many facial expressions. She's relying on intuition here.

"Hurry up, Thorny-Rosa!" He lifts his Leon-gun at her. Rolling her eyes, Rosa gets going. No use wasting time and energy on a determined Reborn.

Dino is, well. The same age as Squalo, sixteen years old, but he seems so much younger. The entire drive he chatters away at Reborn, pretty much ignoring her save for a few pleasantries, which suits her just fine. No needless chatter. What _does_ bother her is that Reborn looks almost fond of him. Compared to how he looks at her, well. Room for improvement.

She's just not sure she _wants_ improvement, even if she knew how to go about it. The world she's in, it's not kind. Friendships will be exploited, friends would be weak points, she's not sure if making herself emotionally available for friendship would even be worth it. When she'd been Rose, Harry to her friends, the one she'd called best friend had thrown it back in her face. Pretty much _everyone_ in Hogwarts had, with the exception of Hermione. That's one friend that didn't turn on her out of two that had been close, one among the dozens that by definition of Hogwarts houses should have been her family, one in between hundreds that had claimed to be 'friendly acquaintances' by reason of her being the Girl-Who-Lived.

If friends can turn on her so easily and hurt her that much then she's probably better off without them. Then there's the fact that even if they're trustworthy, losing them hurts almost as much as betrayal. Rosa's got the Varia in this life, but they are _Family_ and never even had to try, and without them it's like the ground under her feet was replaced with treacherous swamp. Then there's Fia - and not being able to see her just _hurts_ like hell. But they are enough.

So yeah, that's a no to quick friendship and instant trust. Unless someone too stubborn and too annoying and too brilliant - like Fia - comes along.

...Criteria which probably fit Reborn, damn. But he's not _trying_ to be a friend, so Rosa's still in the clear. Reborn as a friend would probably be brain-breaking anyway.

Better to focus on the current situation anyway. She has no idea where they're going. The Chiavarone Estate, Reborn had said, but where exactly is that? What would they be doing there? The drive through the Italian countryside tells her nothing. The towns and villages they pass are small and she's never heard of their names.

Doesn't matter that much, anyway. It's not like she's got anywhere to go. Except Varia HQ, but that would be under surveillance and the first place anyone would look for her.

She shouldn't even be thinking about running away anyhow.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

The drive takes five hours in total, but to Rosa it seems longer than that. Boredom has a way of dragging out the time.

The Chiavarone Estate is gorgeous. Unlike the imposing Iron Fort which is just that, a Fort with iron-enforced walls, the Chiavarone Estate is a baroque palace surrounded by wide sprawling gardens that probably take a small army of gardeners to maintain. 

Some guy runs up to Dino to whisper something in his ear, the teenager instantly panics and hurries inside, leaving Reborn on Rosa's shoulder. A footman approaches them to show them to their rooms.

Inside is just as impressive as outside, all polished marble floors and delicate-looking works of art. Lots of mirrors, velvet-cushioned furniture. Opulence wherever she looks, which is surprising since last she heard, the Chiavarone had fallen on hard times if not a financial crisis. Said difficulties don't seem to have touched the main estate though. Or perhaps the previous boss decided to prioritise luxury over the measures that had to be taken? And maybe the rumours were exaggerated and everything wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. Who knows, it's none of Rosa's business anyway.

She and Reborn are accommodated in one of the guest wings, the one meant for important and honoured guests. Looking around, Rosa suspects that it's the only guest wing in use - it seems as if only a small part of the estate is maintained and cared for, probably to save money. Again, none of her business.

Her suite of rooms is nice, nicer in fact than her room back at the mountain house. It kind of reminds her of her old suite at Varia HQ. Spacious, with an elegant desk, a canopy bed, a large closet, a narrow shelf with a few books, and an expensive-looking rug. Large windows let in a good amount of light, velvet curtains offer the option of keeping it out. Little decorations of horses are on the furniture, and a picture on the wall shows more of the animals - to be expected of the Chiavarone, and in no way gaudy or ostentatious. Rosa likes it.

A look in the closet shows that her clothes have already been delivered and her violin case, too, has been placed here, right next to a stack of music sheets and a music stand. Which is funny because she hasn't played at all since Xanxus took her to live with him. Her mother thoroughly killed whatever joy Rosa found in playing her instrument. With a scowl, she pushes anything related to music into a corner hidden by the canopy bed. That done, she looks around and sees nothing for her to do. Everything has already been stashed somewhere, the few books on the shelf are ones she already knows or that she has no interest at all in.

A look in the en-suite bathroom again doesn't present a way to stave off boredom, so with a shrug she ventures out of her suite. Briefly, she considers finding Reborn, but nah. She'll take any Reborn-free moment she can get, and this location should be safe, he wouldn't have brought her here otherwise. Not after the St. Brutus fiasco.

The guest wing seems pretty much deserted. There's a footman stationed just outside though, probably for her and Reborn to call on if they need anything, but that's it. He doesn't stop her from leaving the guest wing. Her and Reborn's accomodations are on the first floor, the corridor they are in opens up into a gallery overlooking the entrance hall of one of the smaller entrances. She can hear angry yells from a distance, coming rapidly closer. The voice is familiar but before she can place it, another speaks.

"And where are you going, Thorny-Rosa?" asks Reborn, dressed up as a potted plant.

Rosa shrugs and moves closer to the balustrade, peering down into the hall. "Just taking a look around, Devilbaby," she answers. "So-" _Why are we here?_ she wants to ask, but the double doors of some room downstairs are thrown open violently and the source of the yells is revealed.

Her startled green eyes stare into the light grey ones of Superbi Squalo, the frantic Dino next to him not even registering. Her whole world centers on this man - mentor, friend, family, teacher - and a tortured noise escapes her. She'd been so _lonely_ , she misses her _home_ , her family, the place she'd carved for herself among the Varia.

Squalo's startled look of recognition fades into one of utter loathing, hatred, and venom. He spits at the ground in her direction, turns, and leaves. The doors slamming shut behind him leave ringing silence.

Rosa stares at the drop of spit on the ground and distantly wonders how it is that she's managing to keep breathing when her insides have turned into ice.

 

 

 


	11. Handle with Care

Rosa can hear the blood rushing in her ears, can feel her heartbeat in her ice cold fingertips. She's forgotten how to blink, how to breathe. Someone is talking to her, the words flow into an  incomprehensible mush of sounds.

Her hands slip from the railing. Her feet take a step back. They don't feel like they're part of her body and she isn't sure how they are moving.

"I am retiring to my room." Her voice sounds stilted. Foreign. Mechanic. The words oddly choppy. Like staccato notes.

She turns. Walks, somehow. Her mind is blank. White noise on all channels.

There's her room. The door handle doesn't make sense. She stares at it. Her hand goes up, pushes it down, is too weak to do it. It tries again, this time it works somehow. She walks in. The light from the window is too bright. The sun's shining outside, the green of the gardens is too intense and it blinds her.

She sits on the bed. Lays down on her back, arms spread wide. Stares blankly up at the canopy above her. It's dark green, running horses embroidered into it.

"Rosa," Reborn says. She doesn't answer, doesn't turn her head, doesn't remember how to move. Just keeps staring up at the horses. He repeats her name.

"What, exactly," she begins, and pauses, not remembering the words for a while. "What exactly," she tries again, haltingly, "was that?"

Reborn has no answer. She feels oddly betrayed.

"Get up," Reborn says.

"What, exactly," she forces out of her mouth, not moving, she _can't_ , her body is a corpse, "Have you done to them?"

"Who are you asking, and who is _them_?" Reborn counters.

She stares up. "Who?"

Who indeed.

" _Them_ is Squalo and Luss. Them is Bel and Levi and Mammon. Them is Lilith and Verrine and Gressil. Sonneillon, Carnivale, Berith, Vassago, Focalor, Belias. Proserpina, Baal, Raum, Carreau, Asmodeus, Valefor, Crocell, Sitri, Cali, Moloch. Them is my family and not in a _million years_ would they hate me or think me a traitor, so What. Have. You. _Done_." Words are coming easier. Remembering the names, speaking them, helps. There are more, so many more, over a hundred.

"Who is _you_?" Reborn wants to know.

"You is also family," she whispers. "Who is betraying who, I wonder, and who is betraying me?"

Pawns on a chessboard, a game played in darkness so that neither player knows what pieces are left, what pieces are being moved, or even the face of the other player. "I wonder which piece I am."

"You aren't making any sense."

A short laugh escapes her. It sounds wretched.

Not making any sense, yes. The entire _world_ isn't making sense. Squalo hating her doesn't make sense. Squalo is loyal and honest. He gets angry, an explosive kind of anger. He doesn't _do_ hatred and grudges and venom.

"But Xanxus is gone," she murmurs. "Madness. Illusions. Rumours."

Xanxus’ guardians, right now they are vulnerable. And how odd, to think of them as that, but. Right now, aren't they hurt? Like she is, bleeding inside every second of every day, not _knowing_ what happened to Xanxus, where he is (if he's even alive), and anger is good at distracting from pain.

Not thinking straight, is it so hard to believe that they could be turned against someone who was family before? Whom they trusted? Was this not what happened to Sirius?

"Who," she whispers, blankly, mind shying away from the answer, "Would profit from turning my loved ones against me? And who would have the means to do it?"

This isn't the magical world. Without evidence, without _witnesses_ \- but oh, isn't Varia under surveillance already, after the supposed coup d'état? How hard would it be, to impersonate someone and claim to have seen something? How hard would it be to conjure up evidence via illusions? "How hard would it be, to addle the mind of someone already distraught, until they believe a lie that provides a villain?"

Not hard at all. "It would take some very skilled illusionists, to get past Mammon," she continues. "The best ones are Schnitten's flock, and the Cedef Mists. All of them unquestionably loyal. Which means..."

"Rosa," Reborn says, warningly, but what is he warning her of? Does it matter? Does she care?

"The one behind it," she murmurs, "Is from my own family. Iemitsu or Timoteo."

She closes her mouth, done talking. Expels a long breath. And something that was already cracked inside her

Finally,

Breaks.

 

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

Rosa says nothing more, so Reborn leaves her there in her room. Dino is waiting outside.

"I'm making a call," Reborn informs him shortly. "Don't go in there."

Dino nods. "I'll just... stand guard," he says weakly. "She shouldn't be alone, right?"

Reborn nods, and goes into his own room, Leon already shifting into a phone. Grimly, he punches in the number. The person on the other end does not answer, so Reborn instead calls someone who can _make_ it happen. "Lal," he greets curtly.

"Reborn," she answers, just as curtly.

"Get me your boss on the phone," he orders. "It's urgent."

"Fine." Lal recognises his tone and doesn't order or question. Only minutes later, he's treated to the sounds of her kicking Iemitsu Vongola awake. He wishes he were in her place.

"Reborn!" Iemitsu greets, immediately followed by a yawn. Reborn grits his teeth.

"I would like to know," he says darkly, "What exactly you were thinking, turning _my student's_ only family and support against her."

"Err..." Iemitsu sounds confused. "What? Rosa?"

"Yes," Reborn grits out. "Your so-called _niece_ , however far removed, had an encounter with the Varia's acting commander not too long ago."

"Squalo?!" Iemitsu exclaims. "Mio dio, is she alright? He didn't hurt her, right? Why was she even _near_ him? Reborn, she has to be kept away from-"

"And why is that?" Reborn interjects. "To keep her from _corruption_ , as you and Timoteo call it, or for her own safety because _you_ turned them into her enemies? I find it rather telling that you immediately enquired as to her health."

Silence on the other end. Then, "Rosabella is a flight risk. It was obvious that she regarded the Varia as family and would have forsaken Vongola for them. That is not an option, and I took steps to ensure distance between them. It was regrettable, but I saw no alternative. Considering how emotional the girl is, she will feel betrayed by them and thus not allow past Varia teachings to influence her in the present which is to the benefit of us all."

"Long-term you have turned an integral part of Vongola's military force against its future boss and _my_ student, destroyed a _ten year old girl's_ trust in Famiglia and family, addled the thought processes of very dangerous men who just lost their Sky and blame _her_ for it. In what possible scenario is _that_ a solution to _anything_?!" Oh, Reborn is _pissed_ now. Rosa may not be easy to get along with, but _this_ more than justifies her behaviour. "And her, feeling betrayed? Do you wish to know, Iemitsu, what she said when considering the possibility of them turning against her of their own free will? She said, _not in a million years_. Which led to her figuring out that either _you_ or Timoteo are playing god with her family's minds. Congratulations, Iemitsu."

Shocked silence follows, then Iemitsu breaks out into wild curses which does not impress Reborn at all.

"You have destroyed what little progress I had made," he snarls into his phone. "You are going to provide _anything_ I need to do damage control, you will cease any activities concerning my student, you will report anything else you did with her in mind to me _and_ Lal, and in the future provided Lal leaves you alive, _she_ will make decisions that concern Rosa and she will inform me of them like you should have done."

"Now, see here-" Iemitsu blusters, but Reborn ends the call, gritting his teeth. Leon turns into something spiky to make it known that Reborn is squeezing him too hard.

Reborn had been making progress with Rosabella. Small steps, but they had been there. It was a small miracle after the miscalculation and misinformation that led to the St. Brutus incident. And now, because of one man's selfishness, it was all gone.

Because that's what it was, no matter Iemitsu's excuses. Selfishness. Wanting to erase any possibility of Rosa being discarded as Decima so that his own brat would be kept out of the Mafia. Sacrificing her for Tsunayoshi without her even knowing of the existence of another heir.

And now it's on Reborn to make sure it doesn't end in another tragedy. (It will, there's no way it won't.)

Leon turns back into a phone. Once again, Reborn dials Lal’s number.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa hasn't moved in hours. She can tell by how the light changes.

She should be angry, but she's too devastated to muster up any kind of fury. She'd just _lost_ her family, to the machinations of family. Thinking beyond that fact is impossible, her mind keeps returning to it.

It's a cold ache in her chest, like a shard of ice lodged where there was warmth before.

Betrayal on all sides. Even if Squalo and the Varia are being _used_ , shouldn't they _know_? Rosa was with them for _years_. How can they even _consider_ the _idea_ of her betraying Xanxus? And Iemitsu and Timoteo, how could they _do_ this?

That's the horrible thing about being betrayed. It doesn't just hurt. It _destroys_. Trust. Confidence. Makes her question everyone, doubt _herself_ when _she_ apparently is the _only one_ she can rely on. Her life already is one big joke, she can't afford that; and _she just lost her family_.

She still doesn't remember how to move her body. That's probably the only reason she hasn't jumped out the window and run away yet. What's there even left here?

"Rosa." Reborn lands on the bed next to her.

 _No_ , she thinks. _No one here_.

If he wants any kind of acknowledgement, he's going to be waiting for a long time. She's done.

But Reborn just places rustling paper next to her and leaves again without a word.

She tries to move. Manages a twitch in her thumb. Her entire body has fallen asleep and she feels the tiny movement in her whole arm. It feels like something other than cold, so she tries again. Reborn left her papers that probably have information on it, he never volunteers any without her having to dig and dig, so she needs to read. It must be important. And probably about the latest disaster (her _family cast her out, why? Just give me an explanation!_ ). She has no more fucks left to give.

That's not true, she cares far more than she should, but she doesn't want to anymore. Everyone would be better off without her, and she would _definitely_ be better off without _them_ ; unfortunately knowing it is one thing and stopping herself from _caring_ another.

It takes a while until she manages to sit up. She's cold all over, having lain on the bed without moving for hours, and can't bring herself to care about it.

She picks up the sheets of papers, eight of them in total, and scans them. Can't make sense of what she's reading at first. It's a list of names, additional info beside them. _Giaccomo Quattrini, Florinda Angelini, Anna Esposito..._ the names are numbered, there are two hundred and eighty-three in total. Frowning, she looks at what's written beside them. Series of numbers and letters in the first column not containing the names, different every time. Second column, again a series of numbers and letters, but the same for every name. In the third column, four-digit numbers. Last column, a big V with either a small c or v added, or just a big C.

The papers rustle as she starts to tremble, recognising and translating the codes. V, Vongola. The c for capitale, the main part of the family, the v for Varia. C for CEDEF. The first two columns contain dates - birthdates in the first.

Death dates in the second. It's the same date for all names. The first of August in the year 2005, the day after Rosa's tenth birthday. The numbers in the remaining column contain codes for causes of death.

The list contains the names of everyone that died in Xanxus' coup.

Two hundred and eighty-three. _Two hundred and eighty-three._

Frantically, she combs through the list for names she knows. _There!_ Sitri, stabbed. Cali, succumbed to poison. _Please, no_. Gressil, broken neck. Sonneillon, blood loss after being shot. Ganauche II, burnt alive.

Name after name. She can't stop reading. The names blur as teardrops fall on the papers but she still deciphers every single one, burns them into her memory.

Two hundred and eighty-three lives lost on that day. More people probably died in the following days as they succumbed to injuries. Friends of hers. Subordinates. Men and women she'd once been responsible for. Strangers. Family. _Dead_.

Hogwarts had around that number of students. Her mind conjures up the image of the Great Hall during the Welcoming Feast. Then switches out the students with corpses.

The papers flutter to the ground as she bends over and throws up.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa wakes up. Her eyes feel hot and swollen, her face sore, she's got a headache. And yeah, there's the anger, simmering in her chest. Yesterday she'd just been devastated, spent most of it alternating between crying and throwing up. Now?

Now she feels like burning the world.

But she _won't_.

She'd always thought there was a reason for Xanxus attempting a coup. That he hadn't really gone traitor. That there was something that justified everything.

The thing is, she can't think of even a _single_ reason that justifies getting two hundred and eighty-three people killed in such horrible ways. People that are, _were_ , family and Famiglia. Xanxus used those he was supposed to care for as disposable pawns, got a _third_ of them killed. Got Ganauche killed, a man who had baked mud cakes with her. Aside from Visconti, he was Rosa's favourite of her grandfather's guardians. And he'd been _burned to death_ and nobody even told her.

She isn't an _idiot_. Ganauche was a strong Lightning, resistant against pretty much anything and a combat expert to boot. It'd have taken some damn strong Flames, Storm or Sky, to even get through his Hardened skin, not to mention he wouldn't just stand still while it happened.

Xanxus killed him. No one else in the Varia could have. Rosa knows the Storms best of all and Ganauche could have taken any of them.

The bedsheets start to smoke under her fingers. She yanks them off the fabric and clenches them into fists.

Rosa adores Xanxus. Loves him with all her heart. When nobody else had cared after her father died, he'd stepped up and saved her. Had given her a home, taught her to fight, to earn respect and respect herself. Had given her everything she needed, shared his Family with her, given her responsibility, treated her not like a child but as a valued member of his family. No one could have taken her father's place, she wouldn't have _let_ them. But Xanxus was in a class all of his own, somehow parent, godparent, sibling, employer, leader, and idol all at once.

And distantly, she did know that he had a dark side too - his temper was no secret, and he could be brutal, cruel even. So could she, the revenge on Federico had shown that, but that was _righteous. Justified_.

But it's one thing to be aware of something and an entirely different thing to witness the aftermath, be confronted with the destruction, the loss of life. To suffer for what he did.

Two hundred and eighty-three lives were lost as a direct result of his actions. Men. Women. Veterans. Newly recruited mooks barely out of childhood. Fighters. Intelligence officers. Service personnel. Xanxus had incited a _bloodbath_ and while there might be a reason for it - explanations are not excuses, a life lost wouldn't magically return.

And if it was a _good_ reason, one that justified everything - wouldn't he have told her? Confided in her? Asked for her goddamn fucking advice?! Why would he not have told her if not for the fact that he _knew_ she would not be all right with his plans?

Rosa adores Xanxus, she does. But she's been faced with the simple truth that her current situation? _Is almost entirely his fucking fault_.

 _He_ was the one to resort to violence. _He_ made his choice. All he had given Rosa, he had taken away with that decision. He had _known_ that she wouldn't go along with his plan, so he drugged her and removed her from the equation, betraying her trust and faith, and excluding her from the Varia who he then took and attacked Vongola with, resulting in a bloodbath.

Timoteo and Iemitsu's actions are all on them, though. Attempting to set her up with guardians only days after the coup? Cutting her off from communication? Taking away any and all control she had over her life? Choosing to screw with the minds of Family to keep her isolated? _She does not deserve this._

 And still Rosa _loves_ these people. All of them. Even though they aren't good for her. Even though they turned out not to be who she thought they were.

All of it makes her _angry_ and all of it _hurts_ and she wants to hurt something, too. Except she _can't_ because one, she isn't Xanxus, and two, she's in the Chiavarone home. She'd get innocents hurt and she's _better_ than this mindless rage trying to take ahold of her.

Agitated, she jumps from the bed before she sets it on fire. Paces angrily. Considers jumping out the window and just _get the hell out and away_.

This is when her eyes fall on the violin case. Her lips twist into a snarl. Another thing she'd loved once that had been taken and twisted until it disgusted her.

And the thought comes to her: _It is time to take something back._

No more being tossed around between higher powers, no more waiting for mercy. She's Rosa, daughter of Enrico, and this is _her_ life, and until further notice both family and Famiglia are written off.

The violin bow feels both familiar and foreign in her hands as she tightens the bow hair and rosins it. She grabs the violin itself and roughly tunes it.

Then she begins playing. It's not beautiful. She draws the bow far too harshly over the strings. Her fingers mess up the notes, way too out of practice. The fact that she _hates_ the violin doesn't help. It sounds wretched, instead of a tune she produces a wailing mess

But it's not about beauty. It's not even about music. It's about Rosa and the fact that she's _furious_ and this is the only outlet she has left, and about the fact that she's been a miserable pawn for the longest time.

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa's been sitting on the window sill for an hour when a knock sounds. She doesn't answer. It's not like they don't know she's alive, she tortured the violin for hours and it's only been half of one since she stopped.

The door handle is pushed down and Dino Chiavarone enters. "Uhm," he says when she raises a disinterested eyebrow at him. "I brought lunch? I don't think you've had any food since yesterday." Indeed, he holds a plate with artfully arranged sandwiches. "I didn't know what you liked, but you can't go wrong with sandwiches, right?" His eyes widen. "You aren't allergic to anything, are you?"

She shakes her head and rearranges her leg so there's some more space on the window sill. He sighs in relief and approaches. Hands her the plate and pulls himself up on the windowsill to sit opposite her. There's enough space for both of them.

Rosa takes a sandwich but doesn't eat. She's not hungry. "Thanks," she says anyway, voice hoarse from yesterday's cryfest.

He hums in acknowledgement and looks out the window. She sets the plate down in the tiny space between them. A barrier between them, she thinks cynically. She kinds of needs one, all her defenses have been torn down.

Nibbling on the sandwich, she joins him in looking outside. Her room offers a nice view of the gardens. Near the house, flowers have been artfully planted into flowerbeds that form symmetric patterns. Further away are green meadows, gently sloping. Perfect for picnics or long walks. It's different from what she knows. The house she grew up in had a garden, but it was more wild and not nearly as big. Varia HQ only had training grounds and greenhouses for poisons, plus the flowerpots Lussuria kept which contained either carnivorous plants or orchids. The Iron Fort's garden is a maze of hedges with nice niches interspersed. None of them have a simple lawn area.

"You know," Dino says, "When Reborn left to train you, I was jealous."

A snort escapes her. "Oh by all means, take him back."

"Haha," Dino laughs nervously. "No, no, keep him. I'm already done training."

"Oh no," she answers, lips twitching. "You can have him. I couldn't possibly deprive you of his delightful company."

He waves her off. "Please, don't go out of your way for me."

"I insist." She's grinning now. "You came all the way to visit him, after all."

"Oh, that was nothing!" He's grinning now, too. "I got my fill of his company!"

"And a kick to the head," she adds.

"That, too." He takes a sandwich. A turtle peeks out of his sweatshirt and bites off half of it without him noticing, resulting in him biting down on thin air. "Ack," he grunts.

She snorts, he grins wryly. "And there goes my cool image," he says sardonically. To the turtle, "Enzo, that was mean."

The turtle disappears in his sweatshirt again, happily munching.

"So," Rosa says. "I take it you aren't jealous anymore."

"Not really." He sighs and leans back. You know, I wasn't exactly supposed to become boss. I was completely useless and Father groomed my cousin to take over while keeping me far away where I couldn't embarrass him. I _really_ was completely useless, you know?"

"I heard, yeah," she murmurs.

Dino laughs self-depreciatingly. "Yeah, everyone did. It was fine though, I never wanted to be a Mafia boss."

"Was it really?" Rosa asks, because from her experience in her previous life? Being laughed at and ridiculed does bad things to a person.

"Until my cousin crashed his car into a tree and died," Dino nods. "Then I got thrown into Mafia school which was horrible until Reborn got involved."

"Then it got worse?" Rosa guesses.

"Yep." Dino eats the remaining half of his sandwich, a mildly horrified look on his face as he reminisces. "You wouldn't _believe_ the things he put me through! There was this time where he signed me up to help the theater club and they needed someone to act as a princess-"

Rosa is suddenly very thankful that she left St. Brutus when she did. Apparently she got out of numerous shenanigans that way.

Dino finishes his tale. A moment of silence, then, "I don't know if you're aware, but I Squalo was my friend in school and we're still sort-of friends."

"Yeah," Rosa mumbles, the brief time of amusement fading.

"I just wanted to say, he's not really himself right now," Dino says unhappily. "Not since - well, his Sky is gone and I guess you know how loyal Squalo is, he's not thinking rationally right now-"

"I know," Rosa answers tiredly. "It's not his fault. I don't blame him. Not much, anyway. Doesn't make it better. Thanks for telling me though."

"Okay." They return to looking outside. "He used to talk about you. Mainly to yell at me about how his boss' brat doesn't suck half as bad as me when she hasn't even hit the double digits yet."

"Sounds like him," she comments, lips quirking up a tiny bit. "He gave me my weapons." She pulls out her kubotans. "Well, not these specific ones, those had the Varia emblem on it."

"Are those... pens?" Dino asks dubiously.

"Kubotans," she says sharply. Then she adds, with a sigh. "In the shape of reinforced pens, yes. We got in an argument about which is better, pen or sword. I made _one_ argument for pen and the next day, I got these for weapons and then he made me do his paperwork. Asshole." She scowls. "So I decided I'd show him that pens really can be better than swords and kept them out of spite."

Diino laughs, shaking his head. "Squalo and his swords."

"And Rosa and her paperwork," she mutters. "I'm not a fucking secretary."

He laughs again. "Hey," he says. "I promise I won't dump any paperwork on you."

"Thank you very much," she answers dryly. "I am truly grateful."

He chuckles. The two of them return to companionable silence, only interrupted by the sounds of them eating sandwiches until the plate is empty.

Rosa hugs her knees. "I hate this," she admits. "Everything is so wrong."

Dino looks at her with sympathy. "It's really unfair to you, isn't it? You're a kid."

"Ten years old," she mumbles. "Not that it matters."

He sighs. "You know I never wanted to be a Mafia boss? Truth is, I never wanted to be in the Mafia at all. It's a dark and brutal world, and I don't want to be one of them. But... I care about my Family. And I thought, if I were leading it - wouldn't that put me in a position where I could change it? Make the Mafia a better place?"

Rosa looks up, something just - connecting in her head. "Change the Mafia?" she asks. "How?"

"Well," Dino laughs sheepishly, running a hand through his blond hair. "I'm still kinda figuring that out? I really need to fix my own Family first, but when I've done that, I guess... Well, human trafficking needs to stop, and drug trade is a huge problem - stuff like that. And just - make the world a nicer place?" He blushes and ducks his head. "It's stupid, I know. Father says I'm weak and I'll ruin everything."

"I thought your father was dead?" Rosa frowns. "I mean, aren't you boss already?"

"He's got lung cancer," Dino answers. "We're all just waiting for him to - well." He smiles too brightly. "He's not dead yet, so that's good, right?"

"I don't think your plan is stupid," Rosa says quietly. "He shouldn't say that."

Dino perks up. "You don't?"

She shakes her head.  "I think the world could do with some cleaning up." A slight hesitation, but then, "I'll help." Her plan to get Xanxus on the boss seat is no longer an option anyway. After what he did? He may be the rightful heir, but that doesn't make him the best one.

Dino blinks. She holds out her hand, wry smile on her face. "Can't promise anything, but I figure since I'll be Vongola Decima at some point, I might as well do some good with all that power. Besides, our Families are allies anyway, aren't they?"

His smile is blinding as he grabs her hand and shakes it enthusiastically. And she can't help a small answering one appearing on her face.

 

 


	12. Black as Night

The next weeks, Rosa keeps busy in an effort to avoid thinking. Just acting like she's okay takes effort, but the alternative is to be miserable, and she feels like if she pretends hard enough, she might actually start believing she can be okay.

Dino is a good help, every day he spends a few hours with her, and they take meals together. Sometimes on weekends he can spare time to go horse-riding - the Chiavarone breed horses, which isn't as lucrative now as it was a hundred years ago. He's too busy for more than that though, the Famiglia won't run itself.

Reborn is being strangely... well, not nice. But he doesn't start any bullshit. Just runs her through drills and training. Dino's lent a few of his men for her to train with, and that's good to keep her mind off of things, too. Then there's the studying. Reborn doesn't just tutor her in fighting, after all. Maths, Languages, Politics, Mafia Politics and Etiquette, Economy, Business, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, anything she can think of and more, Reborn puts her through at some point.

When she isn't doing those things, she practices playing her violin. Which is an activity she _hates_ but keeps doing out of spite. It even sounds good most of the time, but that doesn't make her like it any more.

In the evenings, she tumbles into bed so physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted that she falls into dreamless sleep most of the time. Not all the time, though, she has nightmares three nights out of seven.

She isn't all right. Not by a long shot. She's lost the ground under her feet and trying to get to place where she can stand upright, where she can just _be okay_ is something she doesn't even know how to begin doing.

This is the danger of being a Sky. Other Flame users can function on their own. But Skies? _Need_ people, need connections, need support and validation. They are... fragile. Not physically but emotionally, and will take betrayal much harder than non-Skies.

Of course, that's generalising. There are exceptions to every rule, no Sky is the same just as no human is completely identical to another. But unfortunately for Rosa, she isn't an exception to the rule, and the loss of almost everything and everyone she believes in hit her _hard_.

It's evident that Reborn knows this because not once has he attempted to introduce her to potential guardians, and not once has he put pressure on her, or so much as even mentioned Vongola and her future as its leader to her. She appreciates that.

Weeks turn into a month, two months...

"Hey Rosa, we're going into town, want to come?" Dino asks her over breakfast. "You've never been, right?"

She shakes her head no.

"No, you've never been, or no you don't want come?" Dino asks for clarification, grinning slightly.

"The former," she answers quietly, hesitates, then, "I'd like to go." He beams at her and she feels a flash of guilt at how happy he seems about such a simple thing.

Dino might be the kindest person she's ever met. Selfless, honest, just _good_ through and through, and she can't stand worrying him. Not when there are dark shadows under his eyes, _in_ his eyes, when his ailing father keeps tearing into his self-confidence, when he has to pull his Famiglia back from financial ruin. And still he makes time for her, for his people, can genuinely smile and joke around. What little faith she still has in humanity is thanks to him.

"Great!"

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

The city is... an experience, certainly. It's a rather small one, but what makes it special is the way the residents treat Dino. They walk up to him fearlessly, greet him, vendors call him over to give him free food, soon enough Dino's right-hand man Romario is laden down with a number of packages. Women introduce their children to him, old women pinch his cheeks, men tell him about their businesses. Dino himself is interesting, too, seeming to enjoy himself. Most of the people he greets by name. He plays with the children, enquires to people's health.

"My Family's been watching over this town for generations," he tells her in a moment of quiet. He seems a bit embarrassed but happy. A few kids then drag him away to play hopscotch with him, some of Dino's men join.

"Huh," Rosa says.

This is not how she was taught a boss acts. But it's... good.

(A part of her can't help but wonder if this is what people wanted her to be, in her previous life. The way these people look at Dino certainly is similar. She wonders if he feels trapped, sometimes.)

"You go play, too," Reborn suggests.

She hesitates. This warm sunny place, the children's laughter - she's never had that. It's not where she belongs. But she _wants_ to.

So she joins the game. Dino beams at her proudly, and she silently resolves to do more things like this. If not for her, then at least for him.

 

―~~―~~―

  

She's gone two months without any incidents, Rosa probably should've known something would happen.

Funny enough, it turns out the assassins are after Dino but she's in the way, so... yeah. Awesome. Great. Ah, screw it. At least they're in a deserted alley, a shortcut to this great restaurant Dino knows. Apparently the best place in the world to get French Fries. Dino is such a dork.

So yeah. Assassins. She drops her pens out of her sleeves - and suddenly before she can do a thing, the assassins fall over, holes in their foreheads, tiny red Flames steaming at the edges.

Her eyes widen, adrenaline floods her body, she spins on her heel, throws her hands up, and thinks _protego!_ as hard as she can. The Flame shield springs up and stops the bullets fired at her. The shells disintegrate and release the Storm Flames held within but her shield holds, only the tiniest bit weakened.

Tense, Rosa waits for the next move of the sniper. Dino has pulled his whip, Romario and the other men accompanying their group also having drawn their weapons. She wants to tell them not to bother, that this isn't about Dino after all, it's about _her_. Because she'd recognise those Flames anywhere, she's gotten shot at often enough-

Slow clapping to her right, Rosa whirls around.

There the sniper stands proudly on a windowsill, completely ignoring the many guns levelled at her. Dark eyes gleam in a shockingly beautiful face, tight-fitting clothes emphasising perfect curves. Wiry black curls are tamed into a thick braid. But her most stunning feature is without a doubt the skin, dark as ebony wood, barely any lighter than the black uniform she wears. The Varia emblem on her chest is the only light thing about her aside from the white of her eyes.

It is hard to believe that Fiamma Zabini is only fourteen years old. She's had men drooling after her since she was twelve.

"I see someone learned a new trick," she drawls mockingly. "Training treating you well, Rosa?"

Rosa stares at her, taking her in. Her heart twinges painfully. She puts on a smirk anyway. "That depends," she answers. "On the definition of _treating well_ , Lilith."

"Oooh, burn," the girl Rosa once asked to be her Storm Guardian says appreciatively.

"Huh? You know her?" Dino blurts out. Rosa doesn't take her eyes off of Fia as she nods.

"What are you doing here?" Rosa asks quietly.

A light frown takes over the beautiful face. "We need to talk."

"So talk," Rosa orders, not moving an inch.

Fiamma's frown deepens. Nimbly, she jumps down to street level, coming to stand right in front of Rosa, heedless of the weapons levelled at her, now also including Reborn's gun. "Okay, what the bloody hell is _wrong_ with you? Aren't you happy to see your fucking _friend_? The fuck did they do to you, huh?"

"Friend?!" Dino echoes, sounding more confused than ever. "But you shot at Rosa!"

"It's our thing, honeybunch," Fia waves him off, not taking her eyes off of Rosa any more than Rosa off her. Dino sputters in the background.

"Ran into Squalo a while back," Rosa bites out, by now familiar helpless anger rising. "The hell do you _think_ is wrong?!"

Fiamma makes a noise back in her throat. "Ah. Now we _really_ need to talk."

"Don't want to talk," Rosa says shortly. "Back off. Personal space. Respect it."

"Sheesh." The other girl rolls her eyes and doesn't budge. "Back to _that_ shit, are we? You're so fucking awkward, Buttercup."

"Awkward," Rosa echoes. "Sure. Let's call it that, why don't we."

"Ahh, and _there_ comes the sarcasm." White teeth gleam as that infuriating smirk widens. "I _missed_ you. Your angelic eyes, your golden hair, long walks in the moonlight-"

"Assassination attempts at four in the morning?" Rosa raises an eyebrow.

"Remember that time with the crocodiles and the-"

"Fuck you."

Fia smirk widens into a full-blown grin. "There she is."

Rosa scowls. "You, minion, are too saucy."

"Peace, ye fat guts," the answer comes without a missed beat. "Shakespeare, really?"

"Cultured people read Shakespeare, apparently." 

Fiamma fans herself. "You flatter me, really."

"You're such a brat."

"Says the ten-year old. Shrimp." Rosa's glare is held effortlessly.

"Thorny-Rosa," Reborn pipes up, and _oh_ that can't be good. "A good Mafia boss invites friends to lunch."

"Yes, _Thorny-Rosa_ ," Fia drawls. "Your _friend_ is hungry."

"Shut up, Devilbaby," Rosa snaps, the nickname rolling off her tongue for the first time in months. Dino chokes on his spit. Oops.

"You're so mean. I'm _starving_ and there's this _lovely_ restaurant just a block away." Fia raises an eyebrow. "C'mon, buttercup. You need to eat your French Fries if you want to get big and strong in the _far_ future. Don't wanna stay a shrimp forever, do you?"

"How has nobody killed you yet?" Rosa hisses. "How have _I_ not killed you yet?"

"I'm too badass and you're too nice," Fiamma answers sagely.

Rosa takes a deep breath. "One lunch. Then you go back to whatever hellhole you crawled out from."

"There, was that so hard?" Fia chuckles, turns, and leads the way. Rosa stands there for a moment, then turns to Reborn.

"I really don't want to do this."

Reborn gives her that infuriating innocent face. "But she's your friend, Thorny-Rosa!"

She throws her arms up. "Fuck everything and fuck friendship!"

Dino laughs nervously. "Ahaha, she doesn't seem so bad? Come on, it can't be that bad, Rosa."

"And I want to know about the crocodiles," Reborn adds.

Rosa rolls her eyes before turning sharply. "Let's just get this fucking over with."

 

  

―~~―~~―

 

 

Sitting at a round table are the newcomer, Dino, Reborn, and Rosa. Romario and another of Dino's men stand a bit further away, the rest of the bodyguards are outside. With Reborn around, they hardly have to worry about the assassination of their boss. Unless Reborn himself decides to do it, in which case they'd be useless anyway.

Rosa glares daggers at her supposed friend who in turn is perusing the menu, humming lightly. Reborn's eyes gleam as he studies the two. Dino just looks awkward, a light blush on his face as he looks at the Varia girl. Reborn makes a mental note to _instil_ correct demeanour into his former student whom he is still sort-of tutoring.

"You wanted to talk," Rosa clips out. "So talk."

"So impatient," the other girl drawls. "You're adorable when you're pissed."

Reborn is almost certain that his girl, Lilith Rosa had called her, is the one she tried to Harmonise with. Which is _interesting_. The dynamic between them, the way they talk - these two know each other well. Rosa had recognised her instantly and promptly reacted. And there was the way her posture changed the moment Lilith came into view, the way she straightened, the way the other girl drew out more emotion than Reborn had seen from Rosa since the Squalo disaster with a mere few words.

Maybe Lilith isn't Rosa's guardian, but he's willing to bet that there's a bond of _some_ sort between the two.

 _And_ this is, as far as Reborn knows, the _only_ person Rosa had actually wanted for a guardian.

"Thorny-Rosa," he chirps. "Introduce us."

"Devilbaby, Lilith, Lilith, Devilbaby," Rosa says flatly. Dino chokes on the water a waitress brought them.

"Pleasure," Lilith croons. Her eyes fix on Dino, giving him an appreciative look. "And who's honeybunch over there?"

"Dino Chiavarone," Dino somehow manages to get out of his mouth before coughing again. Rosa ceases her glaring to give him a concerned look and patting his back.

How _that_ friendship happened, Reborn has no idea. Dino is _Dino_. He'd expected Rosa to eat him alive, but somehow while Reborn hadn't been looking Dino had gotten her to adore him instead - and vice versa. Troublesome brats.

Lilith gives Dino a smouldering look and a wink which makes him flush and tug at his tie. Rosa returns to glaring at her, fingering a fork. Apparently knowing the damage Rosa can dish out with cutlery, Lilith smirks gleefully. "Lilith of the Varia," she introduces herself in a sultry voice. "Vice-leader of the Storm Squad." She tilts her head. " _Pleasure_ to make your acquaintance."

Rosa's fork goes whizzing just past her ear. Chuckling, Lilith (Vice-leader of the Varia Storms? Reborn can see it, she's definitely _something._ Wasn't this just getting _juicy_?) turns back to Rosa. "Aww, feeling neglected?"

"Get on with it," Rosa orders, bristling. "Why are you here?"

"Well." Lilith folds her hands primly. "If you must know before the food is here... So basically my mother has picked out her thirteenth husband and apparently, as my arse of a brother writes me, things are _serious_ this time, there's talk of babies which is honestly fucking disgusting and if I get a little brat sibling I'm going to have to at least visit which will be a disaster, also brother dearest misspelled _serious_ which means he's making a stupid joke I'm not getting and it's annoying as fuck, also he wouldn't do it if there wasn't something significant about it and generally I don't want to fucking deal with this so I came to rant. You're welcome."

The utterly incredulous look on Rosa's face is amazing and the only way it could be better would be if Reborn had caused it.

"What the fuck," she says.

"That face always makes me feel better," Lilith comments. "So, anything else to add?"

Rosa glares but then dons a smirk of her own. "So things are quite _serious_ ," she drawls. "And you need my help with a bad pun."

"Oh haha, very funny," Lilith snorts. "I surmised that myself, thank you very kindly."

"How the hell do you misspell _serious a_ nyway?" Rosa asks with a raised eyebrow. "Which _language_ did he even write you in? Didn't he write you in Swahili once?"

"That would be the brother. He's an asshole. He wrote in perfect British English this time, and he spelled the word S-I-R-I-U-S. I don't get it." Lilith scowls in annoyance.

Rosa frowns, an edge of unease to the expression. "Like the star?"

"Star?"

"Dog star. Up in the sky. The one that's bright and flickers."

"Why would my brother write me about a star? That makes no sense." Lilith scowls. "You think it's a hoax? What's your bullshit intuition got to say about this?"

"Puns are beneath my bullshit intuition," Rosa snorts. " _Sirius_ might be the name of husband number thirteen. I knew a Sirius once..." Her eyes go hooded for a moment. "A long time ago," she finishes shortly.

Something to investigate, Reborn decides.

"Now that makes more sense," Lilith mutters. "Stupid fucking family bullshit."

"Are you going to visit?" Rosa asks, sounding concerned.

"Only if I actually do get a sibling." The look on Lilith's face is dark.

"Hey," Rosa says quietly, making her almost-Storm look up. "You left them for a reason. They may be family, but-" Her fists clench, she stares down at them. "That doesn't mean they're good for you."

That's as close as she's ever come to talking about her own troubles. Lilith only shrugs. The waitress then comes over to take their orders. A lull of silence, then Rosa surprisingly speaks up again. "So what happened with whatshisface?" she asks, a teasing note to her voice, though her eyes are worried at Lilith's dark look. Relieved when it vanishes as her eyes crinkle as she grins.

"Oh, _him_ ," Lilith snorts. "What an idiot. We went out and it was utterly boring, he talked way too much, then he told me he likes me because I'm not like other girls, so I asked what the hell his problem is with other girls. Then he said, look at that girl over at the coffee automat for example, so I did and _damn_ she was pretty, so I went and chatted her up and it was awesome. Never talked to the guy again."

"Glad that worked out for you," Rosa says.

The food arrives. Lilith practically inhales her meal while Rosa barely touches hers before pushing her plate to her friend who inhales that too. Rosa frowns at that but chooses not to comment.

"So," Lilith says then, leaning back in her seat. "You look like crap and you're not acting like yourself. What gives?"

Rosa decides to be unhelpful and crosses her arms in front of her chest without answering. Lilith tilts her head. "Your feathers are different," she remarks.

"Stating the obvious," Rosa answers noncommittally. "I felt like changing them, that's all."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why she exchanged the white feathers in her hair for black ones. Black for mourning.

"If you say so," Lilith answers, voice just as bland. "Aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask what?" Rosa counters, voice hard.

"You tell me, boss."

Reborn frowns. Dino's breath hitches. _Boss_. It's not an address used lightly in the Mafia.

"I'm not fond of guessing games," Rosa responds coolly. Lilith snorts.

"This is not like you."

"People change. Don't tell me what to be like," Rosa returns.

"Hmm..." Lilith rests her chin on her hand. "Remember how we first met?"

Rosa snorts. "You were an arrogant bitch and I kicked your ass."

"And I proved myself to you and you made me second-in-command," Lilith finishes.

Reborn stills. Dino chokes once again. "Second-in-command?" he coughs out, unintentionally saving Reborn from asking himself. Because Rosa making Lilith second-in-command indicates that _she_ was first-in-command and doesn't that just explain so much.

"Eh? You didn't tell them?" Lilith asks Rosa, who frowns and asks,

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Dino exclaims, confused, but Rosa's eyes find Reborn's instead. She leans back.

"Huh," she says, looking mystified. "That explains a lot. I thought Ottabio reported that shit."

"Hold up, _Ottabio_?" Lilith interjects, realisation then taking over her face. "Ooooh _shit_ , that is _bad_."

"It _seems_ ," Reborn speaks up. "That he wasn't very forthcoming about _you_ , Thorny-Rosa."

Rosa hugs herself. "Creepy," she mumbles.

Considering how Reborn had met her, yes it is.

She shakes herself, looks up. "So yeah. I used to lead the Storm Squad before Belphegor came along."

"Whom she trained, too, before letting him take over," Lilith adds, a note of pride in her voice.

_What._

Oh yes, that would _certainly_ have been _useful_ to know previously.

"Was there a point to this line of conversation?" Rosa asks Lilith, who shrugs.

"Just a bit surprised to see _you_ of all people ignoring the huge fucking elephant in the room," she answers casually. "Because, you never had a problem telling _Xanxus_ of all people to fuck off," _What?!_ "But here you are, too scared to ask the hard questions."

"Fine then," Rosa hisses. "How many of you think I'm a traitor? How many want me dead?"

"Ah," Lilith leans back. "No clue. We don't talk about you."

"Aren't you helpful."

" _Because_ things and people get broken when you're mentioned. You see, opinion about you is divided." Lilith shrugs. " _I_ know you'd never have done what rumours claim you did. Which you better have figured out for yourself before this conversation."

"Seeing as I would have figured the same for _Squalo_ of all people, I couldn't be sure of _anything_ ," Rosa spits out, hurt ringing in her voice. Lilith winces.

"Fair enough." She fiddles with her braid. Then, "You know how the divisions used to get along for the most part and we were all Family even when beating the crap out of each other?"

"Of course," Rosa snaps.

"Yeah, that's not the case anymore." Lilith scowls. "We didn't lose just one Sky, you know?"

Reborn hates seeing the defeated expression on Rosa's face. "I'm sorry," she says quietly. "That I wasn't there. I should have been, I should have _known_ -"

"Shut up," Lilith snaps. "I'm _glad_ you were kept out of it. You _couldn't_ have stopped anything and you know it."

"Still-"

"No."

Rosa sighs, brushes hair out of her face. "How bad was it?"

"Hell on Earth. They knew we were coming, knew our targets - we ran right into ambushes. Formations destroyed right at the beginnings. Only lived through it because the Prince is a fucking genius." Lilith laughs bitterly. "The rest of us had no fucking clue what was going on most of the time, but Bel had his shit together. Still lost Caligari and Moloch, Raum died later in the infirmary. Other divisions got hit harder. The Rains and Lightnings the worst - they were right in the middle of it."

"And most assume it's my fault," Rosa guesses, looking tired. Lilith inclines her head.

"But some of us know better," she states. "And if you need us - just say the word."

"Which of you?" Rosa asks. "The Storms?"

"Considering we all fucking worhip you? Oh yes." Rosa's lips tip up at that. "Because we all know you're a fucking mother hen and far too nice to get us all killed," Lilith finishes.

"Ho?" Reborn perks up. Today is just full of revelations.

Rosa sputters. "I'm not a mother hen!"

"Uh-huh," Lilith snickers, devilish grin on her face. "Sure. Visiting in the infirmary, bringing us food, asking about our health and well-being, giving us treats for our damn _pets_ , helping with _paperwork_ \- need I go on?"

"Just making sure my subordinates are capable of fulfilling their duty," Rosa deflects. "Like a good boss is supposed to do."

"Suuuure," Lilith drawls. "You bake us _birthday cakes_."

Reborn very nearly loses his composure. Rosa, the Cloudy Sky brat that apparently _led a Varia division while younger than ten,_ fussing over her subordinates and baking them cake? The mental image is too funny. Cute even, which is definitely not a word he'd associated with her previously.

Rosa gives Lilith a baleful look and apparently can't come up with any response. "Anyone besides the Storms?" she asks, hope and dread warring in her eyes. "I'm guessing Lightning and Rain are lost causes."

"Guessing right," Lilith mutters, looking angry for a second. "Clouds are vocal in their opinion of you and since _apparently_ they're compromised, that's not big fucking surprise. Mists are shifty as fuck and I doubt Mammon would even do anything without the right _incentive_ , if you get my drift..."

"Leaves the Suns," Rosa finishes, looking tired and unsurprised.

"Who may talk a lot but actually say very little," Lilith tells her. "Never noticed it before, but Lussuria keeps a fucking watch on what he says."

"So to sum it up," Rosa murmurs. "Out of the over-a-hundred people that made up my family, one, the smallest division, believes in me. Ten people." She sighs deeply. "I suppose it's better than none, which is what I believed before this talk."

"So what's the plan, princess?" An eyebrow is raised at Rosa who looks up at the new address.

Reborn would like to know that, too.

"It's not," Rosa answers quietly. "Like I have a fucking choice in pretty much anything I do. Just... you do you, and I'll figure shit out. I'm glad you're not dead, so stay that way."

Lilith smirks. "Gotcha." She gets up. "Guess I gotta go now... nice meeting ya, Devilbaby and Honeybunch." She smirks at Reborn, winks at Dino, ruffles Rosa's hair. "Oh, before I forget... it's a bit late, but here's your birthday present." She places a box in front of Rosa and then she's gone.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Rosa isn't quite sure what to feel. On the one hand, there's this endless relief that she may have lost the Varia, but she didn't lose _all_ of them. Fiamma, at least, can be counted on, and so can the other Storms.

On the other hand, there's still the grief for all she's lost. And the guilt that somehow it’s all her fault - which she knows it’s not, but doesn’t change how she feels. And the insecurity, the feeling that she’s _not good enough._

She's got no idea what to say to Dino and Reborn so she just picks up the gift box and unpacks it. Blinks at what's inside.

Daggers. Made from black material that doesn't reflect light, perfectly balanced, wickedly sharp. And the design, the way they lay in her hands, the curve of the edge - Bel's work, definitely. The holsters are all Fia's work though - adjustable, so Rosa can wear them on her thighs, arms, at her waist, in her boots, wherever she chooses. Even in her hair. There's ten in total, varying in size, she can do all at once.

She flicks one of them up, watches as the blade flips through the air, turns over. She catches it between her fingers expertly. A tiny bit of light catches on the black blade, and for a moment a design of flames forming a rose blossom is reflected.

Gorgeous and deadly. Bel surpassed himself with these. There's a warm glow in Rosa's chest.

Bel believes in her. She hasn't lost him. She'd figured that out when Fia asked for her plan and addressed her as _princess_ \- it wasn't Fia asking at all, only Bel calls her that.

Her fingers clench around the dagger in her hand. These weapons - they really don't fit the washed-out version of herself she's been the past months.

She looks up from the dagger. "Reborn," she says, finding the Arcobaleno's eyes. "I'm ready to go back to regular training."

 

 

 


	13. About a Mist

"Let's go on a field trip!" Reborn declares, wearing what Rosa thinks is a catholic school girl uniform. It looks _wrong_. _Why_.

She gives him a blank look while Dino falls over with his chair, yells something about having to work, and runs out of the room, thus abandoning the game of chess he'd been winning. Rosa isn't any better at chess in this game than she was in the last lifetime. Too impatient, and far too reluctant to sacrifice pawns.

"What are you thinking, Thorny-Rosa?" asks Reborn, eyes gleaming.

"I'm thinking the words 'field trip' should not sound so horrifying, and I ought to run after Dino, also you should not be allowed to dress yourself," Rosa answers. "Where are we going?"

Reborn hums. "Places."

"I can't wait," Rosa comments, voice dry as the desert. "I've always wanted to go _places_. For how long should I pack and what kind of weather can I expect in _places_?"

Reborn spreads his arms. "Time is an illusion!"

She doesn't quite dare rolling her eyes. It would mean taking her eyes off of Reborn and he's prone to surprise attacks lately. _Mafia ladies always give their full attention to conversation partners._

"You don't know how long we'll be?" she guesses. "What about the climate, should I expect bad weather?"

"There is no bad weather, just wrong clothing," Reborn answers sagely. Which obviously doesn't help at all.

"Speaking of wrong clothing..." she mutters, staring at his unholy outfit.

Reborn poses like a model.

"Please stop," Rosa says flatly. "And please get changed before you traumatise someone."

Black eyes gleam at her.

"...I'll go pack," she says, and flees the room.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"I feel like I'm doing something very wrong," Rosa mutters.

Beside her, Reborn's sitting on a bunch of backpacks, elbow hanging out of the window, sunglasses on his face. Trucker aesthetic. _How_ can an infant pull that off?

"And I've never gotten that feeling from driving before," she continues. "Bus somehow, the fact that you're making me do it makes it feel illegal. Also, I want it noted that I've never driven a truck before and I think doing it for the first time on a road trip is Not A Good Idea."

She gets a rubber bullet to the head. The truck swerves whilst she curses. "Mafia Ladies don't complain," Reborn informs her.

"Good thing I'm no Mafia lady yet," she retorts, and then catches sight of a car behind her attempting an overtake manoeuvre. "Oh fuck no, you don't!" She slams down on the gas pedal.

She learned to drive from Squalo. It shows.

"Wheee!" Reborn squeals, and raises his arms like he's in a roller coaster. Rosa feels slightly mocked but hell if she's going to let anyone overtake her even if she can't drive this monster of a truck. Cars, bikes, no problem, give her a helicopter and she'd be _fine_. But this truck is _stupid_. It's big, it's slow, it's loud, and it's so outdated that she has barely any clue what to do with it.

Traffic is a battle, though, and Rosa hates losing, so.

"A little help!" she snaps at Reborn. "Shoot them or something!"

"Oh look, a police car!" Reborn notifies her happily. "I wonder what will happen!"

"Tch." She scowls. "Get your luggage, we're getting a new vehicle. This one is _shit_."

The police guys wave her over. She parks the truck in the middle of the street. Honking ensues. The officers hurry over. Rosa grabs her backpack and violin (she packed it because if she forgoes practice, she'll probably never start again), and nimbly climbs out of the window and onto the roof of the shitty truck. From there, she leaps over the officers and runs for the now empty police car - amateurs even left it open for her. Ha!

Compared to the truck, it drives like a fucking _dream_. With screeching tires, Rosa escapes.

Of course, police cars aren't exactly inconspicuous, so at some point she makes a stop to hot-wire a Porsche convertible. Hey, if she's stealing a car then she'll do it in style, thank you very kindly. It's at this point Reborn catches up with her.

"Damn," she says. "Thought I'd lost you."

"Thorny-Rosa," Reborn answers. "This car is _pink_."

"It's a Porsche Boxster S, Devilbaby," she replies. "And I love the colour. It sort of fits my name. Also, it's fast."

"Get a yellow one instead," Reborn whines.

"Never," she declares, and runs a hand over the wheel fondly. "I'm in love with this car. I want it. It's wonderful." She finds a pair of pink heart-shaped sunglasses in the glove compartment and puts them on. The weather is great, so she decides to drive with the roof down - it has the added benefit of making conversation impossible. Her luggage and violin are stashed away securely. "Put in your seatbelt, Devilbaby," she says, grinning because when will she ever get a chance to drive a Porsche again? Not in the near future, that's for sure.

She reverses out of the garage she found the car in. The vehicle positively purrs.

 _Oh yes_. Rosa _really_ likes this.

"I don't like this car, let's get another," Reborn announces.

Rosa tosses her hair back. "I don't care. I'm a pretty blonde and I have a pink convertible. I'm living the dream."

They reach the streets and Rosa slams down on the gas pedal.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"So this is where we wanted to go?" Rosa asks as they exit the Porsche, Reborn's hands leaving indents on the oh-shit handle which he'd held onto the entire ride for some reason.

On the one hand she's feeling revitalised. She loves driving. It's not as great as flying, of course, but the Porsche is as close as a car will ever get to a Firebolt. And traffic was a Quidditch game today.

On the other hand she's sulking because she can't keep the car. Literally. They're out of gas. So now they're stranded in this little town.

"No," Reborn grumbles, pulling vengefully at her hair as he climbs on her shoulder. "We're about 200 kilometres off."

"My god, you're a _terrible_ navigator," she comments.

"No, _you_ are a terrible driver," Reborn grouses.

"Excuse you?" she snaps. "I'm an amazing driver! Look, we made it here in _three hours_ instead of the five it would have taken anyone else."

"My point exactly," Reborn answers, giving her a look.

"Tch," she mutters morosely. "No appreciation for skill, I see how it is." She strokes a hand over the hood of the car wistfully. She'd miss it for sure. It was better company than Reborn by far. With a sigh, she grabs her luggage and begins walking. She'd parked her Porsche in an empty parking lot behind a closed grocery store.

The town isn't as nice and picturesque as the one she visited with Dino. It's grey and modern and it reminds her of Little Whinging which makes her dislike it instantly. There are even rows of identical houses in this part of it.

Feeling the first twinges of hunger, she makes her way to where she assumes the town centre is. "Are you sulking?" she asks Reborn.

"No," Reborn answers mulishly.

He's totally sulking. Rosa rolls her eyes and congratulates herself on managing to get out of whatever ridiculous plan he had. Even if they're now stranded.

"We'll eat and then get another car," she decides. "And then go back to Dino's."

"A taxi," Reborn corrects her.

"Nah," she answers. "Waste of money, I'm a perfectly capable driver."

Reborn yanks on her hair.

"Oww! Stop that." Rosa scowls at him. "If you're riding on my shoulder, you'll leave my hair alone. Capisce?"

He grabs her nose. "I got your nose!" he says happily.

A passer-by giggles at them and does nothing to help. They probably think he's her little brother or something. Eww!

The next time he's asleep, she's going to put him into a basket and then throw that into a river. It will solve _so many_ problems.

"Dino will be disappointed in you," Reborn points out.

"Can you read minds now?" she questions in annoyance. Her voice sounds stupid because he's still got her nose.

"I have many talents," he answers happily.

"I hadn't noticed," she deadpans. "Now please let go of my nose, it's going to be hard to order food this way."

"About that," Reborn says.

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

"I can't believe this," Rosa growls, throwing Reborn a look of deepest loathing while she puts the shoulder rest on her violin. " _I can't believe this_. This is humiliating, I hate it, and it's all because _you left the motherfucking money in the motherfucking car._ "

Reborn spreads his arms. "Smile!"

"This is all your fault, Devilbaby! And how is it that you have all your damn costumes with you but not a single Euro?" Rosa glares at him. He looks like a mini Beethoven now.

She tunes the violin. Its case lays open before her.

That's right. She's playing for money. _Humiliating_ doesn't even _begin_ to describe the situation. She absolutely _hates_ this. There's only one thing that can make playing violin worse, and that's playing violin _for people_.

"I want you to know that a really really hate you," she says flatly.

Maybe she could sell him somewhere. She'd get money and be rid of him! That would be just _great_.

A girl could dream, right?

Finished tuning the instrument, she sets the bow on the strings and begins to play. People stop to listen and stare, and she grits her teeth at the discomfort and attempts to vent her frustration into the music, with only mediocre success. But hey, at least she's getting money out of it. The stupid gawkers have some uses after all.

She's played for around an hour when a kid darts forward and grabs the violin case filled with a comfortable sum of money. He attempts to run off with it but Rosa's not about to let her hard work's reward be _stolen_ , and the blond boy hadn't actually been subtle about eyeing her money. Her foot swipes out, never pausing in her playing, and the boy trips, the violin case caught by Reborn. Rosa finishes her piece and glowers down at the boy.

He snarls back at her, baring his teeth as he jumps up, falling into a defensive stance that is decidedly _not_ part of any martial arts system that Rosa knows of. And there's just something unsettling about the look in his eyes, as if he's a cornered animal himself. She wonders if he's a homeless kid desperate for money, but his clothes, while scuffed and torn in places, look new and are of good quality. It's something else, and her intuition is whispering unsettling things to her.

"Hey," she says, attempting to imitate Hagrid's tone of voice when he talked to upset creatures. "Are you all right?"

The crowd is muttering, some murmuring unkind things that wouldn't be out of place coming out of Petunia and Vernon Dursleys' mouths, some hissing about calling the police. That would be bad on so many levels. They need to get out of here.

"I'm Rosa," she says gently. "We were just going to get something to eat. If you want, you can join us."

His growl doesn't really sound human. She backs up a step. Rosa would have raised her hands in that universal I-mean-no-harm gesture, but they're filled with violin and bow. She hands both to Reborn to put away. He knows how to do it, he's watched her violin practice often enough.

He ducks, not in submission but in preparation to attack. Maybe he would have done it, but a large man breaks through the crowd of staring civilians and calls out, "Ken! There you are!" Another boy follows in his wake, the emotionless look on his face as unsettling as the newly named Ken's feral one.

Ken backs away to the side of the new boy, putting himself between him and Rosa. The large man - it's obvious he's no civilian and he looks familiar, she must've seen his picture before but can't place his face - looks at her and gives her an apologetic smile. "My apologies. Ken ran off, and he sometimes gets - confused." There's a wealth of words he's not saying.

"No harm done," she answers placidly.

"Let me make it up to you," he suggests. Then quickly grows concerned. "You aren't here alone, little lady, are you?"

"No." Reborn hops on her shoulder, violin case pressed into her hand on the way. "Treat us to dinner!"

"Reborn!" she hisses. "Don't be rude!"

The man's eyes have widened. Clearly he recognises the Arcobaleno. This just kept getting better and better.

"It's an honour to meet you," the man says honestly. Behind him the two boys look displeased, though with the as of yet nameless one it's not visible in his face, more in the way the aura around him becomes even frostier.

Reborn's head tilts. "Lancia, the Strongest Man of Northern Italy," he says, and yeah, now Rosa recognises him too. He was in one of the Varia's to-watch-out-for files, but had a mark against recruitment due to his being far too attached to his little Family to the point of rejecting recruitment offers by several larger and prestigious Famiglias such as the Tomaso.

The man looks flattered at being recognised by Reborn of all people. And Reborn all of a sudden seems very much pleased with the situation. Almost as if he'd-

Oh no. _Oh no_.

She doesn't think he planned this whole thing, he'd been honestly sulking earlier, but the fact that he knows of Lancia? Is _suspicious_ because as far as she knows Reborn doesn't usually bother researching people unless they're of use to whatever he wants to accomplish. And currently, his intended accomplishment is to turn her into a good boss.

She's almost certain Lancia has been picked as a potential Guardian candidate for her. A title like his doesn't come from nowhere.

Irrationally, Rosa inwardly panics at this realisation. She is _not_ prepared for this. Nowhere near close to _ready_ to accept any Guardians! She's barely even over the thing with Fiamma!

Oh great, and now Lancia's invited them to his Family's home. Or Reborn invited them, which is more likely.

"Oh," Reborn adds then with an unholy smile. "Rosa, where are your manners? Introduce yourself!" He pinches her ear.

Rosa pastes a smile on her face. She _does_ know how to behave in front of representatives of other Families. "Of course," she answers Reborn, and wishes he would just drop dead so that she could get around this. "I'm Reborn's student, Rosabella Vongola. It's very nice to meet you, Lancia."

 

 

―~~―~~―

 

 

Mukuro Rokudo is not best pleased.

Or rather, he is _unsatisfied_.

He and his pawns had escaped the Estraneo, and he had destroyed those disgusting maggots in the process. At the time, he hadn't thought to do anything beyond that. Getting out was the primary objective, destruction the secondary, and he had accomplished those a mere two months ago. Perhaps, a part of him had never expected to get out, had thought he'd be slaughtered like a pig in the bowels of the Estraneo facility.

But he wasn't, and now he, Ken, and Chikusa have been picked up by the Torelli Famiglia, a Mafia Family of bleeding hearts (so easily exploited and manipulated) with a habit of taking in children. They've been here a month now, and Mukuro is _restless._

It was fine at first. There was the overwhelming relief at having escaped, being free. Even that month of surviving on the streets was always tinged with a sense of ecstasy, despite the fact that he was stuck with the half-feral beast that was Ken and the emotionless robot that was Chikusa. Neither could be trusted around people. Then that utter _fool_ Lancia showed up and kept doing so, bringing them food and clothes, inviting them to stay with the Family, but never trying to _bring them in_. Merely offering up his home, but leaving the choice to them.

And Mukuro was no fool. They'd been lucky so far, but he had doubted it would last. If the weather changed, if one of them got sick, if they attracted the wrong sort of attention, they would be done for. So Mukuro had investigated and interrogated, and in the end they'd followed Lancia.

It was fine at first. Basic comfort was good, and shifting off some responsibility for the other two was a relief. But then came the dreams ( _blood rip kill_ ), the disgust ( _Mafia, they're everything that is wrong with the world! Kill them!_ ) and the _need_ for violence. It whispers in his mind, chanting for blood. It points out all those disgusting flaws of those around him. There is a demon raging in his soul, and he wants the world to burn, burn, and _burn_.

And the Mafia - it must be _destroyed_. It rots away at the fabric of the world, an ever-spreading festering wound. Mukuro _knows_ it.

He doesn't know how to go about it yet. He needs a plan. But he's good at making those. And he has his advisors, the ones in his head. His previous incarnations that he only became aware of under the knives of the Estraneo, they whisper to him, advice and knowledge. Some of them he remembers clearly, others are hazy shadows whose names he doesn't even know. But the others, oh, the _power_ they give him, he feels it at the edge of his mind, feels it flooding his veins.

It seems fitting that the Mafia that created him will fall by his hand. They brought about their own destruction.

Of course, he has to recover his strength first. Then he has to test it - how far does it go, what can he make the Mafia scum do? He has memories of mind control from his most recent incarnation, he knows it's possible, but his power _now_ is not the same as it was _then_.

The Torelli would be his first test, he'd decided. He'll turn the useful ones to his side - the girl M.M. is infatuated with him, she will be easy to recruit. Then, there is a newer recruit, a man named Birds. He pretends to be honourable, but Mukuro can see the greed and sickness in his eyes. He, too, will be easy to turn, but Mukuro would only keep the scum around so long as he was useful.

He's not going to make his moves immediately. He needs information first before he forms a plan. The Mafia is vast, he cannot rush into this. But neither can he wait for too long. Already he can see the corruption spread to Ken and Chikusa. They like the comfort and the security, the ready availability of food and shelter, the background hum of laughter and companionship. Mukuro himself doesn't see the appeal, but he can see Ken and Chikusa getting attached, growing complacent. The longer he waits, the harder it would be to hold their loyalty.

He'll need to make them see the depravity of the Mafia even in this Family. He thinks of the gun in his shirt and the forbidden bullets he'd stolen, there presence on his body concealed by illusions. Who to test it on? The answer is clear. Lancia. The one who brought them here in the first place, the pretend do-gooder. The one Ken was beginning to look up to, and that Chikusa had started to become comfortable with. Mukuro would have to destroy those fledgling bonds, and soon. Then he would offer vengeance and justice. Everything would go much faster once his little pawns were safely on his side.

He hadn't been sure of how to proceed once the Torelli were destroyed. But now... now that _girl_ was here. The Vongola heiress. Oh, of course he's heard about the Vongola. The most powerful Famiglia by far. If he had control over them, he'd have control over a significant portion of the Mafia.

And the heiress, the future ruler, is _right here_. Vulnerable, only protected by her tutor. Arcobaleno he might be, but that is still just _one person_.

Mukuro smirks. Chikusa and Ken have told him all they so far know about her. The girl, Rosabella Vongola, is now just a room away, talking to Don Torelli. Or, as he finds when entering the room, her attempting to keep a sincere smile on her face while what looks to be the entire Family sucks up to her.

Oh, the smile looks friendly enough, her stance relaxed and open - but Mukuro _knows_ what to look for. The knowledge comes from his most recent past life, one filled with uncertain alliances and treacherous politics. He'd died early then, ironically enough while doing something stupidly heroic no one would ever know about except one no one would ever think to ask.

But he isn't dead now, and he won't be for a long time. Again, he thinks of the gun and the bullets, and amends that he won't die unless he wishes it. Possessing the Vongola heiress... now there's a thought.

As if she can hear his thoughts, the girl turns and looks at him while shaking an older man's hand. Her golden hair sways with the movement, and green eyes stare at him. Those eyes... they startle him for a moment for how familiar that shade looks. But of course, he shows none of his thoughts, and instead approaches with a friendly smile on his face.

He's had practice in smiling in the recent weeks. Illusions help, too. As far as everyone knows, he's a kind child, grateful to be taken in by a friendly Family. _As if_.

The girl looks wary even so but smiles back anyway. The Arcobaleno doesn't smile at all.

Mukuro stays a little distance away to greet her. He'd seen her getting tense any time those old fools grabbed her hand. Her pokerface isn't bad, but to one such as him it was obvious that she was neither used to social gatherings nor very fond of them.

"Mukuro," he introduces himself, his most recent past self's charming smile on his face.

"Rosabella," she answers, smile on her face but eyes, oh so green, wary. There's something very unsettling about her. He can't put his finger on it which makes it even more so. It calls to him. But it's not Sky attraction, he knows how that feels from a precious life. Not that the Sky attraction _isn't_ present, but he's fairly certain that she's toned it down. He barely feels it. No, that thing is something _Other_.

Mukuro never liked things he doesn't understand. They make him want to poke and prod, to study and push until he knows the subject inside out. It's gotten him killed more than once. But he's already decided that he and Rosabella would become quite... close. _Inseparable_. He would find out the secret.

"It's very nice to meet you, Rosabella." He puts just the hint of a croon into his voice. His past self would have taken her hand and pressed a kiss to it, but he was sure she wouldn't appreciate it as much as someone like M.M. would. So he merely puts the idea and sentiment, the reverence such a move would portray should he use it, into a warm look and is rewarded with a surprised blink and a startled exhale.

"Likewise, Mukuro," she answers, her eyebrows then drawing together as if she's trying to figure something out. Her mouth opens, but before she can say anything - and _oh_ , is he curious what information her first words outside of greetings might yield - a cooing woman draws her attention away, barging into the bubble of space Mukuro had so carefully not breached. Anger follows his disappointment, but he takes care not to betray it in any of his gestures: Even if her attention is elsewhere, the Arcobaleno's is still on him. Mukuro greets the tiny hitman, but gets no reaction.

Shrugging as if it's no big deal, he retreats. It's rather reminiscent of how Hippogriffs are to be treated - if they don't return the bow, back away _fast_.

Clearly, if he wants to get close to the Vongola girl, he'll have to separate her from the Arcobaleno first. A plan was required. A plan and information.

So Mukuro watches. And _watches_. There's more meet-and-greet, more of her being stared at and whispered about, something that makes her stiffen and determinedly _not_ look at the offenders. Then there's a large dinner during which more people badger her - he sits across from her and offers commiserating smiles, and when she notices her fixed smile becomes the slightest bit more genuine. He watches as after dinner she actually seems to enjoy conversation with Lancia, who shows her around the mansion and talks animatedly about all the Family does to help in town, and the disgusting practice to adopt children and give them a home in the Torelli Famiglia.

And then he witnesses as the younger children latch onto a reluctant Rosabella and drag her into playing with them and later badger her into telling them stories. Apparently too exhausted to even try resisting, she just begins talking.

It is at that point that his desire to figure her out becomes turns from interest to _obsession_. Because she speaks of magic and the castle where it is taught to children by stern women, surly men, ghosts and half-goblins, neatly disguised as a fairy tale she's made up on the fly.

But there is _no way_ that he wouldn't recognise the description of Hogwarts, of McGonnagall and Binns and the other teachers. Of the shifting stairs and the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. There is _no way_. And there's no way for her to know this level of detail unless she - not yet eleven - went there, and not just for a day trip.

Mukuro would know. That most recent past life of his, the one that's been of such use lately - he had gone to school there. For seven years, he had studied magic, had learned of politics and manipulation, of war and glory. And then he had gone on to die.

He doubts that anyone else had as much reason to hate Hogwarts as Regulus Black did.


	14. Clouded Sky

 

"Okay, I bite. What's wrong with Leon?" Rosa asks, eyeing the glowing _thing_ Leon has become in utter bewilderment. And this happened after a day of randomly switching to different objects, but she'd just assumed it was Reborn messing with her. This though... it looks like a cocoon. Thing. A cocoon thing. Glued to the ceiling of the room she and Reborn share at the Torelli place.

Chameleons aren't supposed to do that! They're not _insects_!

"He's going through a metamorphosis," Reborn answers sagely. "It's an unlucky sign. Every time Leon gets into this state, my students end up dying."

"I did _not_ need to hear that," Rosa says flatly.

"Poor Leon is going to be so worn out." Reborn shakes his head sadly, shooting Rosa an accusing look. "All for you."

"Right. Thanks, Leon. Don't push yourself too much. I would hate for you to be exhausted from being an omen of my death." She resists the urge to roll her eyes. Metamorphosis? What is that going to do?

And chameleons still aren't insects!

"What do you think about Lancia?" Reborn asks her, switching the subject rather abruptly.

Rosa sighs, staring at the Leon-occupied ceiling with a frown. "I'm conflicted."

"About what?" To his credit, Reborn seems to be taking her seriously.

She draws one of her daggers from her hidden sleeve-holsters and begins letting it dance between her fingers in thought. "He's kind. Strong. Smart. Loyal." Really, everything she'd look for in a guardian. Lancia would make an excellent Lightning Guardian.

"But?"

"I get protective vibes of the Stash-her-in-a-tower-to-keep-her-safe variety from him, and he treats me like a child."

Reborn shrugs. "That's easily fixed. Besides, you could stand to be more childish, Thorny-Rosa."

"I'm trying," she sighs tiredly. She's getting better, but she still feels so worn out all the time. Honestly, most of the time she feels she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"I know." Reborn sounds almost gentle. _Almost_ , because that's just not who he is. Every word, every nuance in his squeaky baby voice, is calculated. Still, it does make her feel a little better, so she spares him a smile, as genuine as she can make it.

"I just don't really feel a connection to him," she finally says. "No spark. There's nothing that tells me I _shouldn't_ Harmonise with him, but nothing really _drawing_ me either." Rosa sighs in frustration and clenches the hilt of her dagger. "I know that doesn't sound good enough to reject him. At this point I really can't be picky anymore. It's been _months_. You haven't said anything, but my grandfather wants to see results, doesn't he?"

"That is none of your concern," Reborn brushes her off glibly. "It's your decision, and if you don't feel right about Lancia then you don't have to Harmonise with him."

"Okay, now you're starting to creep me out. More than usual, I mean," she mutters. "I don't _not_ feel right about Lancia. It's just... he loves his Famiglia so much. I can't take him away from them."

"But that would be his choice, Thorny-Rosa," Reborn points out.

"It's just, he's _boring_."

There. It's out. Rosa is a horrible person.

Reborn gives her a look that's as close to exasperation as she's ever seen. She sighs in aggravation. "Let's give it a little more time, okay?" she suggests reluctantly. She isn't all that fond of the Torelli base. Too many people, too much crowding. Too many children badgering her for stories or games or whatever.

There's one good point to this, though. Mukuro. She's supposed to be considering and evaluating Lancia for Guardian status, but she's spent most of the time thinking about him instead.

She doesn't know what it is, but something draws her to him. Nothing Flame-related. Just _something_ about him. It's magnetic. And unsettling.

Rosa has never been able to leave a mystery well alone, be it in her last life or her current one.

 

―~~―~~―

 

"...and this is our school. It was completely renovated two years ago, and the auditorium sports a state-of-the-art sound system," Lancia says proudly, as if he had built the school himself with his bare hands. From what Rosa has seen so far of his character, he probably did. "Most of the teachers are actually members of our Family, after a child abuse scandal was revealed we decided it was just safer for the children if we took the matter in our own hands."

"Because that isn't terrifying at all," Rosa mutters under her breath. Lancia doesn't hear her and continues talking about the school in this little town the Torelli Famiglia call their own.

It's been a week since she and Reborn came to this town. It has been filled with tours. Tours of the town. Tours of the church. Tours of the town-hall, the library, the museums. Tours as in, multiple tours of the same place. The Torelli are ridiculously proud of every single thing in their little city and since apparently she's the most interesting thing to come along since the child abuse scandal they insist on showing her all of it, looking at her beseechingly until she gives them a word of praise and a metaphorical pat on the head.

Their Family has a bad case of hero worship towards the Vongola. And they're gunning for an alliance, Rosa is pretty sure of it. They have so many plans for renovating buildings in the city, building a sports stadium, improving infrastructure and so on, large projects that will take time and a whole lot of money the Torelli simply do not have. Not that they have outright said it, but Rosa is observant enough to note the dilapidated state of their mansion, not to mention how crowded it is. Not a single one of their beloved children has a room to themselves and all guest rooms are occupied by Family members with the exception of the room Rosa shares with Reborn, which she is pretty sure was cleared out in a hurry just as they arrived.

So yes, the Family needs money, and she's their ticket to an alliance with Vongola. In their minds anyway.

And Rosa isn't blind. This is a good Family, they're loyal to each other, protective of their people, they help around town, take in orphans solely to give them a home and not with any intention of using them for their own ends. They volunteer at the animal shelter, for heavens' sake! The Torelli mansion reminds Rosa of the Weasley's Burrow; crowded, poor, but rich in love and laughter. The people are so bloody happy that they spontaneously break into musical numbers at times! Cavity-inducingly sweet, it's getting on her last nerve, but that is a problem with her, not them.

The point is, they are good people and they are good for their town; and allying with Vongola in order to finance their projects will mean inviting them into their territory, letting them gain a foothold. And Vongola _would_ utilise it, seeing as they don't have too much influence over Northern Italy. It wouldn't be the Torelli's town anymore.

It's Vongola so it would probably turn out fine in the end. Still, she is entirely uncomfortable with the situation. Especially since the Torelli haven't said a word about what they actually want, and instead have her spend every moment possible with Lancia, and when Lancia has his own duties to attend to, they extol his virtues in shining colours while he is absent. It's so very obvious that they want her to take on Lancia as one of her subordinates and probably as her Lightning Guardian as well. It would give them quite the bargaining chip; apparently to them that's worth giving away their strongest and best member.

It leaves a bad taste in Rosa's mouth. Which, honestly, is she really cut out for Mafia life? She'd been fine with the Varia, but that was... different. Assassination squad, sure, but one that existed for the sole purpose of eliminating threats efficiently and independently from the main Family, thus committing crimes that couldn't be directly connected to Vongola even if everyone _knew_ it was Varia behind them. Killing to protect is a concept Rosa can get behind.

Politics, manoeuvring, making decisions for people and permanently changing their lives... that kind of power could easily go to one's head, could so easily be abused. Every decision Rosa makes will directly pr indirectly impact the lives of the people she'll be responsible for. It's a responsibility she's terrified of. Terrified of disappointing her people, of failing them, of making the wrong decisions that would lead people to die.

No matter. She has already decided she won't Harmonise with Lancia. His devotion is to his current Family, she would always come second no matter what he claimed. And he's _boring_. Kind enough, impressive strength, but bland. Plus, Rosa isn't really sure she wants someone who'd so readily throw his loyalty at her when his love belongs to the Torelli Famiglia.

At this point she thinks Reborn won't even argue. He's asleep on her shoulder, eyes open but a bubble blowing from his nose. He'd tried to escape a while ago, but Rosa had managed to foil that somehow, something she's sure to pay for later. But hell, if she has to suffer through Lancia's tourist-guide sermons, then he better suffer with her. He's the sole reason they are here.

And he's been kind of more annoying than usual lately. Wherever she goes, he goes as well. His eyes (and often the rest of his infant body) are always on her somehow. She can't go anywhere without him asking where she's going or simply following her. And he's always in hearing range, no matter what.

She's had little privacy since he became her tutor, but he'd usually known when to back off and leave her some breathing room. Now though, that point had passed _days_ ago. The crowded Torelli mansion isn't helping in the least.

 

―~~―~~―

 

Mukuro is biding his time.

Really, he doesn't have any other option. His target is well-guarded by the Arcobaleno whose ever-watching eyes note everything. He has to be careful.

It isn't going to be as simple as sidling up to Rosabella while she is being crowded, and then 'accidentally' placing a scratch on her, which would allow him to possess her via the Possession bullet he'd snuck from the Estraneo compound. No, if he wants his answers then he'll need more time, and he'll need her alone.

Amusingly enough, Rosabella herself is his greatest ally in this endeavour. Mukuro sees how she grows increasingly annoyed with the constant guard around her, how her muscles tighten every time a Torelli Family member walks up to her, forcing their company upon her person. He sees how she stares at the windows as if envisioning the act of jumping out of them to escape the constraints placed upon her. Truly, it is only a matter of time until she does something stupid, the longing for freedom is all but reflected in her enchantingly green eyes, and Mukuro's previous self had been quite accomplished in the art of Legilimency.

The Sun Arcobaleno cannot watch Rosabella forever. One lapse in attention is all Mukuro will need. Then he'll strike.

It is unfortunate that Mukuro won't be able to rely on Ken and Chikusa for this plot of his. But he cannot be sure of their loyalties at this point in time. They like life with the Torelli just a little too much, Ken especially. Mukuro would have to create some incriminating evidence to show them the truth of the Mafia to shatter their naive illusions of a peaceful Famiglia (as if such a thing were possible!) and then make them see the right path, _his_ path, and ensure they never doubt him and his _vision_ ever again. Mukuro just doesn't have the time to plan all that out right now, not in the limited amount of time the Vongola girl would still be available to him.

No matter. Once he has control of her, only then will he see about securing more allies. He'd need to place them in key positions within the Vongola Famiglia to do some of his work for him, seeing as he would be busy with the big picture and keeping his little Vongola doll under control.

The hardest thing would be fooling the Arcobaleno. Seemingly innocent questioning of Torelli members had yielded the information that Reborn is the World's Greatest Hitman, a title that people generally agreed didn't even do his incredible skills justice. Mukuro would have to be _very_ careful. One mistake and he'd be dead, his plan in shambles.

But he has the experience of six lifetimes to draw from, he wouldn't make any mistakes.

All he needs now is an opportunity.

 

―~~―~~―

 

Rosa is climbing the walls. Metaphorically. Though if Reborn got anymore clingy, it would be literally as well.

"Seriously, back off," she snaps at him.

He lifts the glowing ball that is Leon up like an offering. He's wrapped the chameleon in some sort of transparent plastic foil so now he looks like a glowing crystal ball. It goes well with his fortune teller outfit. The disguise is far better than Trelawney's completely authentic outfit ever was. "But trials are pending," he says. "Omens have been divined. The eagle will leave its nest, the dog will burrow into the ground-"

"And Mars shines bright tonight," she mutters. "While Jupiter stands in a 43 degree angle to the Milky Way, so clearly I need to avoid cucumbers and Devilbabies."

"As well as staircases!" Reborn rolls with her nonsense. "It has been divined, Thorny-Rosa!"

"It's noon, there _are_ no stars to be seen anywhere," she says flatly.

Reborn gasps. "The stars have faded! The end is nigh!"

She makes a frustrated sound. "Can you at least pretend to give me some space? Or can we just leave? I'm so not in the mood for any trials, no matter what Leon says."

Reborn gives her a scandalised look. Rosa's getting better at interpreting his minuscule changes in expression. "You cannot escape fate, Rosa!"

She face-palms. "Right. I'll go find Lancia. Perhaps he can scare you away with sheer boredom." She would rather stick toothpicks in her eyes than subject herself to Lancia for longer than two minutes at this point, but if that's what it takes to get Reborn to back off, she _will_ do it.

Her tutor gives her a sad look. "So little consideration."

"So much bullshit," she retorts before she quickly slips out the door and takes a deep breath. A part of her wants to plant a fist through a wall, but this is not her house and it would reflect badly on her own Family. As unkindly as she currently thinks of the Vongola, she does not want that. _Especially_ since it might lead to complaints about her. The last thing she needs is having more of her limited freedom taken away.

So she pastes on a smile and seeks out one of the living rooms. Halfway there some kid intercepts her and whines at her to play with him. Hell no, she doesn't want that, she likes kids well enough but not when there's so many of them - their level of noise rises exponentially with the growing number of children. Ugh.

But there comes Lancia and _no_ , between noisy children and boring Lancia, Rosa will pick children any day, so she lets herself be dragged away.

An hour into building castles with playing blocks she regrets this decision. She's got a damn headache.

No matter what, tomorrow they're _leaving_ , Rosa decides. This whole venture had been a bust.

At least Reborn is keeping his distance at the moment, the level of noise probably warding him off. Oh god, and now some kids are throwing blocks at each other. Shit. And they're supposed to be _her age_ , even! Okay, they don't have the dubious fortune of remembering their previous life, but seriously, how _immature_ can those boys be?

"You look two seconds away from strangling the next one to do something stupid, Rosabella," Mukuro's voice murmurs from behind her.

She doesn't even care anymore about manners and representing Vongola and all that stupid fucking bullshit. "Get me out of here," she mutters back. "I don't care how, if I have to jump into a wormhole straight to hell, I'll do it."

"As you wish, Rosabella." And then there's the familiar touch of Mist Flames, layering over her body. Mukuro's hand grabbing hers and drawing her back with him. She follows along, lets him pull her out the room. There's an illusion of her body still in the room, having taken her place, and it _chafes_ that no one even notices that the real Rosa is gone despite the fact that her fake smile does not look like as dopey as _that_.

On the other hand, it's exhilarating. Freedom at last, at least for a little!

"Reborn's gonna kill me," she whispers and laughs. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere quiet," he answers and gives her a smile. "You look like you need it."

"Oh, do I ever," Rosa mutters. He leads her to the garage where a number of cars are parked, all mediocre models that no Varia member would take the wheel of willingly unless there was no other choice. Probably not even then.

It's also blissfully silent and empty, and Rosa feels days of constant tension release. Mukuro is smirking as he watches and again, Rosa can't bring herself to care that he's seeing more than she's technically allowed to reveal. This, this moment's reprieve, it feels _good_. And she doesn't want it to end, so she asks, "Know where the car keys are?" and when his smirk widens, her empty smile turns into something real.

 

―~~―~~―

 

Mukuro stops grinning the moment she turns away to get the car keys. Bloody hell. Skies and their smiles are dangerous. He has to take her out, and soon, before she looks at anyone else like that and makes them her puppet.

"Got it!" she says, waving a key chain. A minute later and they're driving out of the garage.

This is going better than Mukuro thought it would. He'd originally planned to take her to the underground level below the garage, not drive away altogether. But this is a good change to his plan. This way, the Arcobaleno will take even longer to find them - if he manages to realise that the Rosabella inside the building is an illusion.

She drives fast, eyes gleaming with an appreciation for speed that a part of him shares. Regulus had loved Quidditch. Mukuro isn't him, but the memory lingers. "Where to?" she asks.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks in return. She shrugs.

"Somewhere quiet, I guess," she answers.

Mukuro knows just the place. "There are some ruins nearby." The ruins of an old monastery. It was where Ken, Chikusa, and he had stayed before the Torelli had coaxed them out. It's out of the way, and he knows the area. An advantageous location for his purposes. With Rosa's driving style, they're there quickly enough.

The two of them climb out of the car. Rosabella pockets the keys and looks around.

She looks more relaxed now, a smile playing around her lips, taking in the surroundings. Mukuro supposes it is quite the nice landscape, with the ruins set in lovely meadows, moss growing on the stone, mountains towering in the background.

"This looks like the site of a horror movie," Rosabella comments with a grin, looking at the abandoned monastery. "Have you ever been in there, Mukuro?"

"Once or twice," he demurs. "I never went far. The Family is protective."

"D'you wanna go?" she asks, eyes twinkling with mischief. "I wanna be the stupid blonde from that horror movie. I haven't done anything dumb in _ages_. Reborn's been on my ass all week. The last few _months,_ actually."

This is so much easier than he thought it would be. She's doing all the work for him. He doesn't even have to convince her of anything.

Rosabella really is quite reckless.

He offers her his arm, and she takes it, again smiling at him. "Shall we?" he asks.

"We shall," she laughs.

And she lets Mukuro lead her into the darkness.


End file.
